Thursday, September 20, 2012
Kabul (BNA)
Your Excellency Audronius Ažubalis, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania
Your Excellency, my friend Ambassador Vygaudas Ušackas,
Heads and members of respected delegations,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a real honor to help inaugurate today’s International Conference on “Afghanistan and the Region: Practical Approaches for Sustainable Development”. I would like to register the Afghan government’s gratitude to Foreign Minister Azubalis and the Government and the people of Lithuania for organizing this timely forum. I am delighted to function as a co-chair for this meeting with H.E. my good friend, Foreign Minister Azubalis. I am also thankful for the excellent arrangements for this event and the warm hospitality my delegation and I have received in this old, beautiful city.
Afghanistan’s future is undoubtedly intertwined with the future of its region. Following decades of violent conflict and economic isolation, the region is re-emerging once again with Afghanistan poised to serve as its trade and transit hub for continental-wide commercial relations between East and West, as well as North and South. With an outward economic and political orientation, the countries of the region stand to gain significantly by championing the private sector as the future engine of growth, profit and employment opportunities.
Based on this realization, we launched, last November, the “Istanbul Process on Regional Security and Cooperation for Afghanistan”. In the same vein, we organized the REECA V on Afghanistan in Dushanbe, in which more than 70 countries and international organizations participated. Building on the momentum generated during the past twelve months in Istanbul and Dushanbe, as well as landmark meetings in Chicago, Kabul, and Tokyo, I firmly believe that our deliberations today will be of immense benefit for Afghanistan and the region as whole. Stronger, more result-oriented regional cooperation will help us preserve the significant investments and achievements we’ve made over the past decade, with help from the Government of Lithuania and other international partners represented at this international conference today.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The aforementioned gatherings have given us the necessary consensus and a set of principles that could provide the framework for practical measures towards enhancing regional cooperation in a manner that will allow Afghanistan to play its proper role in advancing regional peace and prosperity.
What is needed now are concrete, time-bound and interconnected measures to transform this consensus and sets of principles into palpable results that benefit all of the countries of the region.
Since late last year, the series of conferences beginning with Istanbul in November, followed by Bonn in December, Dushanbe in March, Chicago in May, and the Heart of Asia Ministerial meeting in Kabul this June, have demonstrated an emerging consensus in the region, supported by the international community, for a secure, stable, prosperous Afghanistan that is a reliable hub for regional trade and transit at a key interchange in Asia, the world’s most dynamic region. Besides facilitating the movement of goods and services, the private sector gathering in New Delhi this past June, in the lead-up to Tokyo, demonstrated Afghanistan’s growing contributions to global markets in the trade of, for example, precious minerals, agricultural products, carpets, cashmere, and marble.
Together, these building blocks have served Afghanistan well facilitating the regional bonds for economic exchange, political cooperation, and furthering cultural ties. As President Karzai proclaimed two years ago at the July 2010 Kabul International Conference, “Afghanistan is re-emerging as the ‘Asian Roundabout’, a central point of interconnection of goods, ideas, services, and people in the fast expanding Asian economy”. Indeed, over the past decade, and through international gatherings such as the annual Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan, cross-border economic cooperation in transport, energy, trade, and other areas have become a central part of our foreign policy and an integral part of our National Development Strategy.
Over the years, increased cross-border trade and investments have shown time and again to build confidence and strengthen relationships critical to overcoming past tensions and mistrust, and realizing our region’s vast potential for mutual benefit to everyone. When Afghanistan’s neighbors are vested in the country’s economic future, they share a mutual interest in the country’s political stability and security from both foreign and domestic threats – again to the benefit of everyone!
In this regard, the RECCA V meeting in Dushanbe adopted 15 specific projects to enhance connectivity, trade, and investment in the region. Furthermore, in November 2011 through the “Istanbul Process”, 43 confidence-building measures encompassing specific measures for enhancing regional confidence, cooperation and integration were adopted. In the framework of its endeavors to play its historic role in advancing regional cooperation, Afghanistan has been activity engaged in various other regional forums including SAARC, CAREC, ECO. Furthermore, Afghanistan is keenly interested in the development of the Northern Distribution Network that will connect Afghanistan through Central Asia and the Baltic states to Europe.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
In conclusion, allow me to highlight the three following facts:
First, it is time for the rhetoric presented in our past meetings to be transformed into practical steps, towards rehabilitating regional peace and prosperity.
This can be done by implementing specific, time-bound regional rehabilitation and development projects in which Afghanistan plays a leading role.
Second, our international partners, those who are interested in peace and prosperity, must provide us with sufficient moral, technical and financial support to realize our common dream of a peaceful, secure and prosperous region.
And, third, allow me to emphasis that security – human security – is the foundation upon which peace and prosperity can be build. In this regard, I thank Afghanistan’s international partners, including the Republic of Lithuania, for helping Afghanistan to become a peaceful and secure nation. In fact, security in Afghanistan in essential for security and peace in the region and directly relevant to international peace and security. Afghanistan counts on and is determined to achieve a smooth transition of security responsibilities to our national security forces and the continuation of international support for maintaining and consolidating security and development.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I once again thank Lithuania and the rest of our friend and partners in the region and the international community for your support and friendship with Afghanistan. I am strongly convinced that the investments and efforts in Afghanistan will generate great benefits for the region and the wider world as a whole.
I thank you for your attention!
