Good afternoon everyone,
Your Excellency Minister Krishna,
Thank you so much for those kind words. It is an honor and a privilege to be back in New Delhi. I feel right at home here. Please allow me to express my deepest appreciation to you, your colleagues and the great people of India for your warm welcome and extraordinary hospitality you’ve extended to me and the entire Afghan delegation on this visit.
In Afghanistan, there is a tremendous natural affinity and affection towards India. And I think that comes from the deep, ancient roots of the historical bond between our two countries and peoples – a bond defined by a common history, common culture, and a reliable friendship and partnership between us.
As you all know, we signed our first bilateral long-term strategic partnership agreement with India. And I am proud to be joining my dear friend and colleague H.E. Minister Krishna in launching the Afghanistan-India Partnership Council, a forum that brings together and further strengthens the existing comprehensive and mutually beneficial cooperation between our two countries.
The two of us and our respective delegations have had the opportunity over the past two days to discuss and share concrete ideas and plans in moving forward our cooperation in the security and political, economic and trade, education and capacity building, social and cultural fields, and people-to-people contacts. Our cooperation and partnership in all these areas is not only good for our two countries but also important for promoting peace, security and prosperity in the region.
India has been the largest development assistance partner to Afghanistan in the region over the past decade. Among other areas, your support, including your generous $2 billion development assistance since 2001, has helped us build key roads, provide essential healthcare services to our people, send millions of Afghan children to schools inside the country and thousands more, including army and police officers, to colleges across India, and begin to revive our agricultural sector.
This is a critical time in Afghanistan’s progress towards peace, stability, development and the consolidation of our young democracy. We keenly look forward to further advancing our partnership with India on all these and other important matters in the months and years to come.
Your Excellency, thank you very much once again for your hospitality and friendship.
