|
|
 |
| |
| April 19, 2004 |
| |
| Afghanistan Hosts 10-Nation Economic Conference |
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - April 19, 2004. A landmark regional economic development meeting began in Afghanistan
Sunday, uniting ministers from 10 nations for what is the first
international conference for two decades in the war-scarred nation,
reports Agence France Presse (04/18).
The two-day Economic Cooperation Organization meeting to boost trade ties was held amid heavy security in the Afghan capital, at a time when several parts of the country remain troubled by violence and unrest. Opening the conference, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the meeting marked a major step forward for Afghanistan and highlighted the poverty-stricken country's role in cementing new prosperity for the region. The ECO meeting, which will also discuss prospects for foreign investment in Afghanistan, follows a recent conference in Berlin at which donor countries pledged 8.2 billion dollars to help the reconstruction of
Afghanistan. ECO member countries have a combined population of more than
300 million and boast rich gas and oil resources. The grouping was
established by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey in 1985 to promote economic
cooperation in the region.
The New York Times (04/19) reports that it is the first such conference
after 20 years of war and since the end of the repressive Taliban
government more than two years ago. Karzai and his ministers announced
that they wanted Afghanistan to regain its ancient position at the center
of the Silk Road, which linked Asia to Europe and became the regional
focus for trade and economic cooperation. The US daily also notes that ground was broken Saturday for a Hyatt hotel in the capital. The $40
million hotel project, near the rapidly expanding American Embassy
compound in central Kabul, has been long awaited, not least by the 115
embassy staff members who live and work in cramped quarters inside the
embassy compound. The arrival of Hyatt is a welcome event for Karzai and
his government. The government has pledged to lift the country out of
poverty—70 percent of the population live on less than a dollar a day,
Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani told delegates. Unless it raises the
standard of living, the government will not be able to fight corruption or
the widespread cultivation of poppy that has made Afghanistan the leading
producer of opium and endangers progress toward democracy, Ghani said.
The Associated Press (04/18) notes that Karzai told the conference that
much was left to accomplish as his country rebuilds its business
community, government institutions and infrastructure. Karzai said the
government hopes to sustain a nine percent growth rate over the course of
the next decade. The economy was practically dormant under the hard-line
Taliban. "The conference is an indication that Afghanistan is now open for business," Commerce Minister Sayed Mustafa Kazemi said in a statement.
Dow Jones (04/18) writes the ECO conference is bringing together
government delegations with banks and aid agencies, as well as potential
investors. Delegates will meet under a giant tent where a historic
constitutional convention was held in December and January. The 10 members
of ECO are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
In other news, Agence France Presse (04/18) reports that the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Sunday security in
war-torn Afghanistan must be improved and extended beyond Kabul before
more refugees can return home safely. Ruud Lubbers said the peacekeeping
duties of the 6,500-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) needed to be widened to take in all of Afghanistan to assist displaced people seeking to return home. Lubbers meanwhile said human rights in Afghanistan also needed to be improved.
The Washington Post meanwhile comments in Monday's edition that
Afghanistan, where NATO assumed peacekeeping responsibility last August, is not progressing well. NATO's European members have failed to contribute sufficient troops to extend the peacekeeping presence much outside the capital, and the resulting power vacuum has been filled by warlords. Lastweek the leading northern strongman, Abdurrashid Dostum forced the flightof a provincial governor and demanded that President Hamid Karzai fire two ministers; two weeks before that, fighting in the western city of Herat killed a cabinet minister. Most disturbing, the power vacuum has made
possible a dramatic resurgence in the opium trade, which now accounts for
around two-fifths of the country's economic output. Unless NATO's
peacekeepers and the American military contingent grow more assertive, the
drug monster will destroy all hope of stabilizing the country.
Source: The World Bank |
| |
| |
| |
|
