Saturday June 4, 2016
Kabul (BNA) The cabinet meeting with President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on the chair held here the other day and discussed key issues, including preparation for the upcoming two important meetings on Afghanistan, a presidential statement said, quoting the president saying the government has firm determination to hold the parliamentary and provincial councils’ election on time. “The security of the election would be discussed and planned in a committee with Minister of Interior on the chair. The budget for holding of the election would be discussed in a separate meeting which would be led by the Minister of Finance,” the president said.
On the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, the president said to the cabinet session that the government would begin reconstruction of some of the country’s historic Masjids, adding that 5 million USD would be allocated for the implementation of the project. Hinting to preservation of the architectural design of the historic Masjids, the president said that tile factory is required to be activated. The Ministry of Hajj and Endowment tasked to work on the design of the historic Masjids and utilize the experiences of Saudi Arabia and the Oman on this aspect.
According to the presidential statement, the Minister of Finance briefed the session on preparation for Brussels and Warsaw meetings, saying that the government would present specific plans on the country’s self-economic sufficiency from 2017 to 2020, including the amount which is needed for the implementation of the plans. Minister of Finance said, the government is committed for accountability of the aided funds based on the frameworks, adding that the important point of the meeting would be to attract new donations of up to 4 billion USD on annual basis from 2017-2020 to Afghanistan. The cabinet session besides approval of the MoF’s report, tasked the ministries to prepare their plans and send them to Ministry of Finance for finalization. The MoF is tasked to present the final report to the upcoming cabinet meeting.
Later on, the Minister of Finance presented the financial report of the first quarter of the 1395 fiscal year in regards with the implementation of the CBR program, adding that a draft of amendments in CBR law was made and sent to World Bank for finalization. According to the minister, the amendments would allow the independent state-run institutions to implement the CBR process. After approval of the ministry of Finance’s report, the cabinet session tasked the ministries to send their plans for implementation of the CBR process to MoF at the earliest as well as jointly ease the process and solve the challenges.
Meanwhile the Minister of Urban Development asked for solving of the 260 Million Afs deficit in Khushal Khan housing project through the amount received from selling of the apartments in the first phase of Khujah Rawash residential project and the development funds. The cabinet approved the ministry proposal, asking for detail investigation of the deficit in the project. According to presidential statement, the Minister of Higher Education presented the proposal on solving of the Afghan scholars’ problems in India, adding that the chief executive was tasked to solve the problems based on the session’s decisions. The Minister of Labor, Social affairs, Martyrs and Disabled presented a draft plan on internship program in government institutions, adding that the implementation of the project would require 1.6 billion Afghanis (25 Million USD). The cabinet tasked the MLSMD and MoF to take specific mechanism for its implementation as well as the commitment of the donor countries, and present the final report in the upcoming cabinet meetings.
At the end, the deputy admin minister for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefed the session on international Memorandum of Understanding reached between Afghanistan and the other countries, including the MoU between the statistic department of Afghanistan and Iran, Cultural cooperation agreement between Afghanistan & Kazakhstan, MoU between the MoFA of Afghanistan and the Turkey on diplomatic cooperation, MoU between the MoFA’s diplomacy institute and the diplomacy institute of the public administration of Kazakhstan and MoU between the Ministry of Labor, Social affairs, Martyrs and Disabled of Afghanistan and Iran. The cabinet approved the MoUs.
