Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi led Pakistan’s delegation at the 2020 Afghanistan Conference, co-hosted by Finland, Afghanistan and UNAMA and held virtually from Geneva, Switzerland.
Addressing the Conference, the Foreign Minister termed Pakistan as a major stakeholder and the largest beneficiary of peace in Afghanistan. He apprised the international community about Pakistan’s constructive contribution to the ongoing Afghan Peace Process. The Foreign Minister stated that the “renewed international focus on peace in Afghanistan through Afghan-led and Afghan-owned political negotiations is a historic opportunity that our Afghan brothers and sisters should seize to build enduring peace, progress and prosperity in their country.”
The Foreign Minister highlighted Pakistan’s contribution to help Afghanistan attain self-reliance. He referred to Pakistan’s development assistance of US$ 1 billion for Afghanistan and a number of projects in health, education and road infrastructure sectors being undertaken in the country. He recalled Pakistan’s investment in capacity building of Afghan people and mentioned 6,000 fully funded scholarships being provided to Afghan students in leading Pakistani universities. Additionally, training is being provided to Afghan officials and professionals in various fields.
The Foreign Minister reiterated support for Afghanistan’s endeavours for regional connectivity. Pakistan is at the heart of major regional connectivity initiatives involving Afghanistan, like the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, CASA 1000, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) electricity transmission project, etc.
The 2020 Afghanistan Conference titled, “Peace, Prosperity and Self-reliance” is the quadrennial pledging conference to support the promotion of sustainable development, prosperity and peace in Afghanistan. Besides President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Foreign Ministers of Switzerland, Finland, Russia, Iran, the US Secretary of State, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Special Envoy of China on Afghanistan led their respective delegations at the Conference.
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