Welcoming Remarks By H.E. Salahuddin Rabbani Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan At the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of g7 + Kabul, 23 March 2016 His Excellency President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, His Excellency Xanana Gusmao, the g7plus Eminent Person, Honorable Ministers and distinguished focal points of g7plus, Dear Ambassadors and representatives of International Organizations, Fellow colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you all to the 4th ministerial meeting of the g7plus countries here in Kabul. We are delighted to host this gathering of particular significance to the people and Government of Afghanistan that signifies our steadfast commitment to advancing the important goals of our group. Your presence here under the theme of from Delhi to Kabul and Beyond: Pathways Toward Resilience expresses a strong sense of solidarity and commitment towards maintaining the momentum which the g7plus envisioned in 2010. 1
We appreciate the efforts of H.E. Xanana Gusmao and Her Excellency Emilia Pires for their stewardship of the g7plus process. We thank other g7plus member states for their active engagement in the efforts of the group. We also thank the development partners for their continued support and alliance to the agenda of the g7plus and the New Deal that aims to enhance engagement on peace and state building goals. His Excellency President Ghani is going to deliver a keynote speech addressing various aspects of the policies and strategies that we have initiated to achieve our peace and state-building goals. I will therefore briefly highlight the context in Afghanistan. Although the constituting members of g7plus belong to diverse regions from Asia to Africa and from Middle East to Latin America, our experiences in peace building and development are common and so are our challenges. Dealing with these decades of challenges has made us realize the importance of coming together. It is also pertinent to mention that 18 out of the 20 members of the g7plus group are also Least Developed Countries (LDCs) including Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a country that has experienced numerous challenges ranging from armed conflicts and combating terrorism and extremism, to developing viable institutions, and rehabilitating the social fabric of our society, which was decimated as a result of the decades-long conflict. However, over the past fifteen years with the generous assistance from the International Community we have made considerable progress in various domains that helped put us on the path to achieve a new Afghanistan. 2
Despite these gains, we are far from where we want to be. We fully understand that our security and stability ultimately rests on our ability to make steady and substantial progress on the goals that we, in the g7+, are collectively seeking to achieve. That includes improving security and promoting peace; strengthening governance and the rule of law; enhancing capacity and transparency in our institutions for effective service delivery; as well as building our infrastructure and increasing private sector investment to spur economic activity and lift our people out of poverty. In this context, the Government of Afghanistan is adamantly focused on implementing our reform agenda, which we presented at the international London Conference on Afghanistan in November 2014. As we move forward, we (are) pleased that the international community will continue to stand beside us as a committed partner, in support of our state-building efforts. To our many international partners represented here today: we deeply appreciate the important work that you continue to render, in support of our peace and stability. Afghanistan believes that the adoption of the New Deal marked a truly momentous occasion in the development of a more effective result-oriented partnership between conflict-effected States, with our development partners. With this initiative, the nature of North-South cooperation has changed for the better, whereby the international community is increasingly channeling greater portions of official development assistance, in accordance with the national development strategies and priorities of conflict effected states. 3
Needless to say, challenges remain. We, therefore, must keep vigilant and increase our collaboration. Let us benefit from each other s experience, and work to ensure that levels of development aid-delivery are proportionate with the assistance needs of concerned countries. Equally important, it remains imperative that the donor community channels its assistance in a manner that will also reinforce the principle of national ownership, and strengthen national capacities of state and non-state actors, including civil society and the business community. Afghanistan welcomes the increased number of feasibility assessments conducted by the members of our group. Conducted at the country level, these assessments feature a concise and detailed analysis of the underlying sources of conflict and stability in fragile settings. For our part, Afghanistan has been actively engaged in the implementation of the New Deal since 2011, with the Ministry of Finance taking the lead on this important issue. My esteemed colleague, Finance Minister Hakimi, will present the findings of our New Deal Fragility Assessment, entitled: Afghanistan s Pathway Towards Stability and Resilience. We are sure that it will be of great interest to you all. Last September in NY, at the Summit Meeting of the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the international community adopted the post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The integration of the PSG s in the 2030 development agenda was a welcoming event that will serve to benefit the g7+ grouping. Nevertheless, we must (NOT) lose focus on the task at hand. The onus is on us (to) undertake every effort to increase our coordination and collaboration, and 4
leverage the full range of resources to implement the five peace-building and statebuilding goals, as a central component of our overall efforts to meeting the MDG s and SDG s. We are convinced that so long as we stand firm in our shared commitment, we will succeed in our transition from fragility to resiliency, and transform the slogan of Goodbye Conflict Welcome Development into reality! To conclude, let me state that Afghanistan stands fully committed to working closely with all members of our group to advance our common peace and development agenda. We look forward to adoption of our Strategic Road Map for 2016-2017 at the conclusion of our meeting! Thank you! 5