Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Political and particularly the economic situation tops the agenda in Afghanistan as NATO troops are preparing to leave Afghanistan in 2014.

The Afghan government has determined its main goal: to maintain stability and attract foreign investment to drive economic development.

Kazakhstan is, of course, interested in regional stability and the economic development of Afghanistan. Stabilization of Afghanistan and its economic rehabilitation are among the most important issues in the foreign policy of Kazakhstan.

On April 26, Kazakhstan's Almaty city hosted the Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process on Afghanistan.

The conference was attended by the delegations from 11 countries as well as the international organizations such as Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, Organization of Islamic Conference, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Economic Cooperation Organization and the heads of the UN missions in Afghanistan and other international agencies.

Addressing the event Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that Afghanistan remains a source of terrorist and extremist activities in the region.

"Unfortunately, Afghanistan remains a source of terrorist and extremist activities," Nazarbayev said at an opening ceremony of the conference.

Moreover, Nazarbayev believes that drug trafficking is one of the actual problems for Afghanistan.

"Today, the problem of drug production and drug trafficking is among the major challenges for the regional development," he said and called on the Istanbul Process countries to coordinate their efforts for combating this problem.

"Without a complex solution, it will be hard to achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan even after 2014," the Kazakh president said.

According to Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan would increase the volume of food and petroleum products' supply to Afghanistan as well as is ready to assist in the exploration of natural resources of this country.

"Currently, we are establishing a national agency to provide assistance to the development and technical support. One of the priority directions of its activity will be implementation of projects in Afghanistan. Kazakhstan will further assist the renewal of peaceful life in Afghanistan with a stress to the social and educational programs, provision of humanitarian assistance in a form of food and petroleum products' supply as well as provision of assistance of our specialists in the exploration of natural resources of Afghanistan with the consent of the Afghan government," Nazarbayev said.

Furthermore, he added that Kazakhstan is ready to increase the grain and flavour supply within the international food program as well.

"I urge the international donors to more active utilization of Kazakhstan's potential in the rehabilitation of Afghanistan," Nazarbayev mentioned.

According to Nazarbayev, the opportunities of Almaty, the southern capital of Kazakhstan, would help the development of Afghanistan. Therefore, Kazakhstan's proposal to establish an international UN centre in Almaty keeps its actuality.

"Our southern capital is a geographically close to Afghanistan powerful transport point with wide opportunities," Nazarbayev added.

Meanwhile, he said that the activity of the UN centre will be directed to the post-conflict rehabilitation of Afghanistan.

"Such an agency is needed to coordinate financial-economic assistance to this country through regional and sub-regional representations of the UN and other international organizations. It will create an opportunity to effectively implement the current programs and tasks of the international cooperation. We have offered to create bases in Kazakhstan for provide assistance and support to Afghanistan," the president believes.

He also mentioned that currently Kazakhstan is preparing to expand the transit potential of the NATO cargos in Kazakhstan's Aktau port which is located in the Caspian Sea.

According to Nazarbayaev, Kazakhstan is actively participating at the humanitarian efforts of the international community for the rehabilitation of Afghanistan.

It is important to expand economic cooperation in the Central Asian region and actively involve Afghanistan in these processes, Nazarbayev believes.

"The basic element of the international assistance programs is the economic rehabilitation of Afghanistan. It is important to strengthen the expansion of economic cooperation in the region and actively integrate Afghanistan to these processes. Kazakhstan is a supporter of such a regional integration. Our country actively invests in the establishment of regional transport infrastructures," Nazarbayev said.

Kazakh president also believes that it is important to expand the railway network in Afghanistan.

He mentioned that the construction of the western Europe-western China transit corridor will be completed in 2014. The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway highway, which is to be put into operation in May, will connect the region with Afghanistan and other countries of the region.

Presidential elections is a consolidating factor for Afghanistan

Speaking at the conference, U.S first deputy secretary of state William Burns said the U.S hopes that 2014 presidential elections in Afghanistan will be a consolidating factor for the country.

"We hope that the elections will be a consolidating factor for Afghan nation and force the reconciliation process, cancel the aggression and bring peace to the region," Burns added.

"If Talibs miss this chance, they will not be able to restore their legitimacy and participate in the political processes. If they pursue their ties with Al-Kaida, then they will prolong a conflict," the U.S diplomat mentioned.

Burns also expressed the U.S readiness to provide its support to the rehabilitation of Afghanistan.

"We will provide our support to political and economic transition in Afghanistan and rehabilitation of historical role of this country as an international center of commerce, trade and culture," Burns concluded.

Foreign forces impede the order in Afghanistan

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi believes that the presence of foreign military forces in Afghanistan impedes the authorities of this country to establish order and rehabilitate the economy.

"Part of our region suffers from foreign military intervention, which upsets the ability of the authority of the country to establish order. In the meantime, this intervention serves as a fruitful soil for the development of terrorism, drug trafficking and increase of organized crime," Salehi said at the conference.

Salehi noted that next year, the region will experience even more problems with drugs, and it will eventually be hit with a "drug tsunami".

Speaking of Afghanistan, Salehi said that next year the land in Afghanistan that is used for growing drugs, will increase by 3 times.

Iranian foreign minister urged for international cooperation in the region for the rehabilitation of Afghanistan. He expressed hope that Afghanistan and other Asian countries would pay more attention to regional cooperation, and increase it, so that the overall security in the region would improve.

Afghanistan interested in Kazakh investment

Speaking at the conference, Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul urged Kazakh businessmen to invest in Afghan economy.

"We will be glad to welcome the businessmen and companies from Kazakhstan so that they could benefit huge opportunities for investing in high-profit sectors of agriculture, manufacturting industry and transport," he said.

Furthermore, he added that Afghanistan intends to expand cooperation with Kazakhstan in trade and transport sectors as well as in other fields.

Almaty Declaration

The conference ended with a declaration in which the parties confirmed their willingness to give full support to Afghanistan in order to involve it in the economic and political life of the region.

The participants of the conference noted the importance of these measures in the context of the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan. Specific action plans on six confidence measures packages of Istanbul Process were approved.

These measures packages include cooperation in combating terrorism, drug trafficking, development of regional infrastructure, trade and investment, education and in prevention of crisis situations.

The Afghan foreign minister expressed satisfaction with the results of the conference.

"We have adopted a concrete plan of measures on the six confidence-building measures and instructed our senior official bodies to implement these confidence-building measures in near months and years. We are very much satisfied with results of the conference," he added.

According to the Declaration adopted on the results of the forum, the next conference on Afghanistan is scheduled to be held in China in 2014.