No. PR/Mission-Afghanistan/2005/01

The ECO Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Askhat Orazbay, took the First Mission to  Kabul, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, on  4-6 June 2005 as was envisaged in the ECO Calendar of Events/Meetings for the year 2005 approved by the 15^th Meeting of the Regional Planning Council.  He was accompanied by Mr. Muzaffer Alacaogullari, Director (Project Research) of ECO Secretariat. The mission's basic purpose was to review the ECO Secretariat's participation in the international community's reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and to get first-hand knowledge about the projects being proposed by the authorities of Afghanistan to be undertaken by the ECO Secretariat in order to operationalize and activate the ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan.

2.            On the invitation of the ECO Secretariat, Mr. Muhammad Jamil Dogar, Managing Director, ECO Consultancy and Engineering Company (ECO CEC), also joined the aforesaid mission. ECO CEC was awarded a contract for a Feasibility Study for Rehabilitation of Nawar Bridge of Hesarak of Nangahar Province of Afghanistan in June 2004.  During their meeting with ECO Secretariat on 25th May 2005, ECO-CEC delegation indicated that they were facing some difficulties such as location of the site, logistic problem as well as security situation in the area, to complete the feasibility study.  Therefore, ECO-CEC was invited to be the part of the ECO Secretariat Delegation to Kabul so that the matters with the relevant Afghan authorities may be sorted out. 

3.            During the visit, the mission met the high dignitaries of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, including the President and Ministers of Economy, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Women Affairs, Urban Development, Commerce, Deputy Ministers of Economy and Foreign Affairs, as well as Acting President of the ECO CCI and Country Director of UNDP and exchanged views on broad range of issues, especially the reconstruction processes in Afghanistan as well as ongoing and future activities of ECO in the region.

4.            During the visit, the Mission was received by H.E. Mr. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

5.            After usual pleasantries, the ECO Secretary General noted that the aim of his visit to Afghanistan was to discuss with Afghan Government the matters related to identification of top priority projects on reconstruction of Afghanistan, which would be financed by the ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan. 

6.            The ECO Secretary General informed the President that he has already conducted meetings with the range of Ministers, including Ministers of Economy, Foreign Affairs and Finance. As a result of these meetings, the understanding of further joint activities on the realization of the ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan has been achieved. Relevant Ministers promised to provide the ECO Secretariat with proposals on concrete projects in the nearest future. 

7.            The ECO Secretary General stated that the ECO Secretariat intends to operationalize and activate the ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan as soon as it possible.

8.            The President expressed his gratitude for the ECO Secretariat’s efforts and participation in reconstruction of his country and assured that Afghan side would render every possible assistance in these important issues.

9.            Upon the request of the President, the ECO Secretary General briefed on the current ECO activities, particularly, signing of the Contract on conducting Feasibility Study on Interconnection of Power Systems of the ECO Member States. He told that all necessary juridical formalities and procedures have been completed and the said Feasibility Study would soon be realized.

10.       Further, the ECO Secretary General shared the plans on establishing ECO Trade and Development Bank in Istanbul and ECO Reinsurance Company in Pakistan. He also informed that the decision to designate coordinator countries for early implementation of ECO priority projects has been made.

11.       The ECO Secretary General told that the ECO Ministerial Meeting on Trade would be held on July 5-7, 2005 in Istanbul, which is expected to make several important decisions in the field of trade. He expressed hope, that the Trade Minister of Afghanistan would attend the said meeting personally. 

12.       Then the ECO Secretary General made a request to the President of Afghanistan to give necessary instructions for early consideration of the issue on ratification of ECOTA and TTFA, which were previously signed by Afghanistan. Responding to this request, President Karzai assured that Afghanistan would consider the proposal.

13.       Concluding the meeting, President Karzai expressed hope that the ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan would make an important contribution to restoration processes in his country. He also proposed to consider the possibility of deployment of one of ECO Specialized Agencies in Kabul.

14.       During the meeting with Dr. Mohammad Amin Farhang, Minister of Economy, the ECO Secretary General stated that ECO has been attaching high priority to the reconstruction efforts being undertaken by the international community to rebuild the war-torn country. He informed that for this purpose the ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan was established and Pakistani Government has already pledged US$ 5 Million for the projects to be assigned according to the Modalities for utilization of this Fund. Modalities both in English and Persian have been submitted to the Minister.

15.       In this context, the ECO Secretary General stated that the main purpose of his visit to Afghanistan was to set up personal working contacts with relevant Afghan authorities since numerous correspondence sent by the ECO Secretariat to Afghanistan regarding operationalization of the aforesaid Fund remained without any response. In this regard, to start with, the ECO Secretary General proposed to prepare 3-4 medium- or small-sized projects so that the ECO Secretariat could chose one of them in compliance with the Modalities and start to implement it utilizing the Fund. The ECO Secretary General added that it would be advisable to appoint a Focal Point from the Ministry of Economy of Afghanistan to coordinate projects between ECO Secretariat and the Ministry.

16.       Taking into account the proposal of the ECO Secretary General, the Minister promised to prepare the list of priority projects and submit it through diplomatic channels shortly.

17.       The Minister informed that the Steering Committee consisting of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Economy and Finance, which has been established to follow-up the reconstruction projects financed by international donor organizations and coordinated by the Ministry of Economy, holds regular meetings and makes decisions on introducing reconstruction projects to potential foreign donors. 

18.       On June 4, 2005, the ECO Secretary General met with the Deputy Minister of Economy, Professor Nazir Ahmad Shahidi, and made a brief review on the Modalities of ECO Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan, the copies of which (both in English and Persian) were handed out to him.

19.       During the meeting the Parties discussed topical issues and practical aspects regarding implementation of vital projects within the framework of the ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan.  

20.       The ECO Secretary General gave detailed explanations on what kind of activities Afghanistan has to perform according to the projects approval procedures and how those projects would be financed from the said Fund. At that, the ECO Secretary General called the Deputy Minister’s attention to the necessity of strict compliance with the requirements of the Modalities of the Fund.

21.       The ECO Secretary General informed Mr. Shahidi that the Minister of Economy, Mr. Farhang, as the Head of the Ministry, which acts as a policy maker in the matters related to reconstruction of Afghan economy, promised to prepare, in collaboration with the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs, the list of projects for ECO financing and submit it to the Secretariat shortly. The ECO Secretary General expressed interest in receiving the said list as soon as it possible.

22.       The ECO Mission visited the Minister of Finance, Mr. Anwar-ul Haq Ahadi. The ECO Secretary General informed that the basic purpose of the visit to Afghanistan was to identify projects which would be financed and realized using the ECO Fund, after completion of relevant juridical procedures.

23.       Since the Ministry of Finance is a member of the Steering Committee, which also includes the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and whose responsibility is to coordinate the reconstruction projects financed by donor organizations, the ECO Secretary General stated that the Ministry of Finance has to be aware of the ECO’s activities in the field of reconstruction of Afghanistan, particularly the ECO Special Fund which has been established for this purpose so that Afghan authorities could utilize it according to the Modalities. The English and Persian versions of this Document have been handed out to the Minister.

24.       The ECO Secretary General reiterated his proposal that relevant Afghan authorities may prepare the list of top priority projects for consideration of the ECO Secretariat and their further implementation using the said Fund. Responding to the proposal the Minister promised to render all his possible cooperation for early operationalization of the Fund. 

25.       The ECO Secretary General requested the Minister to appoint a Focal Point to facilitate communication between the ECO Secretariat and the Ministry. Responding to the proposal, the Minister told that he appoints Mr. Mostafa, Director of Budget Department, Ministry of Finance, as a Focal Point to the ECO Secretariat, who will take up his post on June 16, 2005 for coordination with ECO.

26.       The ECO Secretary General informed that the First Meeting of High Level Expert Group has been established under the Ministerial Meeting on Economy/Finance, and expressed hope that Afghan representative would take active participation in this Meeting.

27.       Further the ECO Secretary General stated that the Central Banks of the Member States should cooperate in exchanging information and experience in implementing their monetary and macroeconomic policies. For this purpose the meetings of Heads of Central Banks of the Member States would be arranged on regular basis. The ECO Member States have been requested to host this important meeting. After the venue of the meeting is designated, the Afghan authorities would be informed accordingly.  

   v. Meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs

28.       The ECO Secretary General met with Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

29.       The ECO Secretary General expressed his appreciation for the active participation of Afghanistan in the ECO activities and expressed hope that Afghanistan would continue to accord high priority to the Organization.

30.       Briefing the Minister on the ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan, the ECO Secretary General stated that the Dushanbe Declaration issued at the conclusion of the 8^th ECO Summit held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in September, 2004 expressed satisfaction over the preparation of the Plan of Action on ECO’s participation in the reconstruction projects in Afghanistan and asked other Member States to contribute generously to the ECO Special Fund for financing priority projects in this country. He informed that the Government of Pakistan has already pledged $5 million to the Fund.

31.       The ECO Secretary General stated that ECO has on numerous occasions requested the Afghan authorities to identify a project for execution by ECO, however, unfortunately, a concrete proposal has not been received from them so far. He pointed out that the proposals received so far were either unserious or were beyond the scope of the ECO Fund.

32.       To ensure early operationalization of the Fund and effective implementation of the projects, the ECO Secretary General pointed out the advisability of efficient coordination between the ECO Secretariat and the relevant Afghan Ministries, particularly the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy. In this regard, the ECO Secretary General requested to appoint a Focal Point of the Afghan Foreign Ministry to the ECO Secretariat thus providing better coordination between them. The Minister favored this proposal and stated that he assigns Mr. Farooq Baraki, General Director, Department of International Economic Relations, who would be in charge of communication with the ECO Secretariat.

33.       The ECO Secretary General requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan to provide its active and every possible assistance to the operationalization of the Fund.

34.       Further, focusing on particular projects, the ECO Secretary General briefed the Minister about the feasibility study financed by ECO for the rehabilitation of Nawar Bridge of Hesarak in Nangarhar Province, which has been assigned to the ECO Consultancy and Engineering Company (ECO CEC). In relation to this the ECO Secretary General regretted that there has been slow progress in the feasibility study due to a number of factors including the lack of coordination between ECO CEC and the concerned authorities of Afghanistan. He submitted to the Minister the Note containing detailed description of the problem and asked to give his relevant instructions to resolve these difficulties.

35.       The ECO Secretary General underscored the need for early completion of this feasibility study as its outcome would have a direct bearing on another feasibility study on Canal Crossings in Farah province.

36.       The ECO Secretary General expressed his gratitude to Afghan authorities for repayment of their ECO contributions for the previous years.

37.       Reminding his interlocutor about the Meeting of the ECO Council of Ministers to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, on August 20, 2005, the ECO Secretary General stated that he looks forward to the Minister’s personal attendance in this important event. Dr. Abdullah stated that he would try to consider his attendance positively.

38.       For discussing the project sent through the UNDP before the Mission, the meeting has been arranged in the Women’s Garden (Bagh-e Zananah) in Kabul by the Minister of Woman’s Affair, Mrs. Massuda Jalal. Mr. Mohammad Yusof Pashtun, Minister of Urban Development and Housing, also took part in the meeting. Meeting included site visit. During the meeting, Afghani side requested to consider the financing of construction of 10 Women’s Gardens in different cities of the country jointly at a cost of approximately $3.2 million from the ECO funds. The ECO Secretary General stated that, although this project is of high importance, especially in terms of empowerment of the role of women in Afghan society, these kinds of issues are beyond his authority and proposed to introduce this project to the relevant decision-making bodies under the Government of Afghanistan, who are responsible for introduction of projects officially to international donors.   

39.       The ECO Secretary General met with the Minister of Commerce, Mr. Mohammad Amin Arsala. At the beginning of the meeting the ECO Secretary General explained his counterpart the purpose of the ECO Mission’s visit to Afghanistan, briefed him on his previous meetings with President Karzai and the key Ministers and sought his support on the Trade and Commercial matters.

40.       The ECO Secretary General mentioned the ECOTA which helps Afghanistan in better accession to the Region. The Minister emphasized the foreign trade gap of Afghanistan between export and import. In the short run, Afghani government enjoys international grants and funds but in the medium and long period, it will increase export and agreed to foster the ECOTA and ratify the Agreement in the nearest future.

41.       Since TTFA – another important ECO Document – requires one more ratification from member states as a condition to be applicable and is useful for Afghanistan to access overseas, the ECO Secretary General requested the Minister to support and expedite the ratification process by Afghan Government. The Minister recalled that in Manila, the ECO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Junejo has reminded this matter and assured that he would make every effort to meet the request shortly.

42.       The ECO Secretary General invited Mr. Arsala to take part in the 3^rd ECO Ministerial Meeting on Trade/Commerce to be held in Istanbul on July 5-7, 2005.

43.       Regarding the ECO Trade Fair, the 3^rd ECO Trade and Investment Conference/Business Forum, and the 10^th Executive Committee meeting of ECO CCI, which were previously planned to be held simultaneously in Kabul on 28 August 2005, the Minister proposed to postpone these events till early October 2005, due to forthcoming parliamentary elections in Afghanistan in mid-September. The ECO Secretary General agreed with this postponement and proposed to identify the exact date suitable for Afghanistan for conducting aforesaid events and inform the ECO Secretariat in due course.

44.       Upon the query of the Minister referring to the international donors’ assistance to ECO, the ECO Secretary General informed his interlocutor about the funds benefited by the Secretariat, particularly UNDP’s $1 million capacity-building grant, IDB’s most recent allocation amounted to $400,000 for the Interconnection of ECO Member States’ Power Systems, FAO’s Food Security and Seed Supply Projects and Establishment of Biotechnology Center in the Region and the 2^nd Phase of the ECO-ITC Project.

viii. Meeting with the Focal Points of Sectoral Ministries

45.       The meeting was held upon the request of the ECO delegation in the Ministry of Public Benefit and was attended by representatives from the Ministries of Public Benefit, Transport, Economy, Agriculture, Environment, and Commerce. Dr. Rasooli, Deputy Minister of Public Benefit, opened the meeting and stressed the difficulties Afghanistan is facing at present.

46.       The ECO Secretary General briefed participants about the Special ECO Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan and stated that Afghan authorities would prepare a set of projects in priority areas in collaboration with Steering Committee.

47.       Since one of the Focal Points to the feasibility study on rehabilitation of Hessarak Bridge in Nangarhar Province attended the meeting, he discussed relevant matters with Mr. Dogar, Managing Director of ECO CEC, and settled the problems causing delay in the project. The Parties agreed that all necessary data would be obtained by June 15, 2005 and a site visit would be conducted on June 23-25, 2005.

48.       The ECO Secretary General told the participants about current activities of the Organization, particularly the projects being realized in priority fields at present.

49.       The ECO Secretary General briefed on the structure of the Organization and its Directorates. Thereby, he asked Focal Points to set up direct working contacts with relevant Directorates of the ECO Secretariat. The contact details, names of the Heads of Directorates and their staff, as well as other relevant information is available at the ECO Secretariat’s website.

50.       The ECO Secretary General advised participants to use more actively the secure website for the ECO Member States, which contains all necessary information on various ECO projects and forthcoming sectoral meetings, seminars, workshops, etc., organized by ECO.

51.       Concluding the gathering, the ECO Secretary General expressed his satisfaction with the Focal Points’ meeting in Afghanistan and hoped that it will contribute greatly to establishing faster communication between ECO and Afghan authorities.

52.       SG called on a visit to the ECO-CCI and was informed about the ECO-CCI activities.

53.       The ECO Secretary General explained the purpose of Mission visit to Afghanistan and gave brief information about the Special ECO Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan.

54.       The ECO Secretary General recalled that the last year Afghan CCI became a member of the ECO-CCI aiming to build the private sector initiatives in Afghanistan and informed his counterpart about the second phase of ECO-ITC Project in order to enhance capacity building of ECO-CCI. To this end, a project proposal for the utilization of the Feasibility Fund would be presented to the 101^st session of the CPR for its approval.

55.       Regarding this project, ECO is trying to correlate the Agreement signed between Afghan Government and UNDP on Promotion of Regional Supply of Goods, Services and Expertise for Reconstruction of Afghanistan outlined in Bishkek Conference to benefit the funds from UNDP. The ECO Secretary General advised to take necessary action with UNDP to utilize its funds under the framework of the said agreement.

56.       The ECO Secretary General advised to coordinate the preparation for the 10^th Executive Committee meeting of ECO CCI and other abovementioned events to be held in Kabul within the year of 2005 with the ECO Secretariat, particularly Mr. Orhan Isik, Deputy Secretary General of ECO, who deals with this matter.  

x. Meeting with the Country Director of UNDP

57.       During the meeting with the Country Director of UNDP, Mr. Frederick Lyons, the ECO Secretary General gave a brief information on the Agreement signed between Afghan Government and UNDP on Promotion of Regional Supply of Goods, Services and Expertise for Reconstruction of Afghanistan outlined in Bishkek Conference, and requested UNDP’s support for the activities of the ECO-CCI regarding the ECO Trade Fair, the 3rd ECO Trade and Investment Conference/Business Forum, and the 10^th Executive Committee meeting of ECO CCI to be held in Kabul within the year of 2005. In addition, he sought the continuing interest of ITC on the 2nd Phase of ECO-ITC Project on capacity building of Afghan CCI.

58.       Mr. Lyons stated that UNDP follows up the decisions of Bishkek Conference and for this purpose the Tashkent Conference has been held recently and was attended by the ITC’s officer Mr. Govind Venuprasad, who is now preparing an Action Plan. This Document, along with the report of the Tashkent Conference, would be sent to the ECO Secretariat for information.

59.       The ECO Secretary General informed Mr. Lyons about the 1^st Energy Trade Workshop to be held in Tehran on 29-30 June 2005 at the ECO Secretariat, which is expected to be attended by representatives of international/regional organizations including UNDP, UNESCAP and UNCTAD. Mr. Lyons stated that UNDP’s office in Tehran might take part in this workshop since it deals with energy matters.

60.       The first ECO Secretariat’s Mission to Afghanistan was aiming to set up personal face-to-face working contacts with relevant Afghan authorities in order to expedite operationalization of the ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan, which was established during the 8^th ECO Summit held in September 2004 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and whose activation, however, is delayed due to lack of communication and cooperation from Afghan side.

61.        The series of meetings and consultations have been held in the course of the visit with the President of the country and the key Ministers responsible for reconstruction of Afghanistan and the certain agreements have been reached during these interactions. Specifically, it has been agreed that the Steering Committee, consisting of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Economy and Finance, would prepare a list of certain medium-/small-sized projects in priority fields for realization using the said Fund and submit it to the ECO Secretariat for consideration in the nearest future.

62.       The ECO Secretariat intents to follow up these matters very strictly and seriously so that all agreements achieved during the visit could lead to concrete results.

63.       Currently Afghanistan needs full-scale international assistance and support in all fields of social life, therefore operationalization of ECO Fund must make valuable practical contribution to reconstruction of this long-suffering country. In this regard, there is an urgent need for the ECO Member States’ contributions to this Fund as it was done by Pakistan, who has already pledged $5 million for this purpose.

64.       Mr. Muhammad Jamil Dogar, Managing Director of ECO CEC, during the meeting with Focal Points at the Ministry of Public Benefits, reached certain agreement regarding the feasibility study for the project on rehabilitation of Hessarak Bridge in Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. Particularly, it has been agreed that all necessary data would be obtained by June 15, 2005 and a site visit would be conducted on June 23-25, 2005.

65.       Along with abovementioned matters, the practical aspects of conducting the ECO Trade Fair, the 3^rd ECO Trade and Investment Conference/Business Forum, and the 10^th Executive Committee meeting of ECO CCI in Kabul have been discussed with the Minister of Commerce and Afghan CCI. Actually, it has been agreed to postpone these events, which previously were planned to be held on 28 August 2005, to early October due to parliamentary elections in Afghanistan in mid-September.

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