Sunday, April 09, 2017
Kabul (BNA) President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has returned home after a week-long official visits to three far Eastern countries of Australia, Indonesia and Singapore, the Presidential Palace said on Saturday.
During the visits to Australia, Indonesia and Singapore, the president inked Memorandums of Understanding (MoUS) with officials of the three countries in different fields and wooed foreign investors.
On Friday, President Ghani met businessmen from Singapore and discussed with them investment opportunities in areas of telecommunication, health, power generation, banking, agriculture and other sectors.
“Afghanistan is portrayed as a country haunted by war and conflict, but the incumbent government is striving to highlight to the world the existing opportunities of trade and commerce,” the president said. He added Afghanistan was facilitating national and international businessmen to boost Afghanistan’s economy. Focus on domestic production and converting Afghanistan into an export based economy is the government’s priority.
The present also met foreign diplomats, professors and students of the Singapore National University on Friday evening and briefed them on the opportunities and challenges in Afghanistan.
President Ghani said terrorism and poppy cultivation were not an issue confined to Afghanistan, asserting they were global problems that had put in danger the entire region.
“The Afghan government has initiated practical measures against administrative corruption that has left a negative impact on the lives of the common people,” the president said.
He added: “Development and stability in Afghanistan ensured the prosperity of Asia, because it serves as a bridge between Central and South Asia, with immense capacity in terms of trade and economic connectivity.”
The Singapore National University rector thanked President Ghani for his informative speech on Afghanistan and gifted him a special jacket with the university logo.
