Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 17/12/2011
Bonn, 5 December 2011 Mr. President, Honorable Ministers, Distinguished delegates, Ladies and gentlemen, Let me begin by conveying the gratitude of the OIC to the Government of Germany for the excellent hospitality extended to us and our congratulations to the Government of Afghanistan for chairing the meeting. I am confident that the outcome of the meeting would contribute to the success of the transition and transformation phase in Afghanistan. After a decade since the first Bonn conference, despite numerous challenges in Afghanistan, remarkable progress has been achieved. The present conference is a good occasion for a thorough assessment on how far we have come since then. It is also an opportunity for international and regional stakeholders to outline a consolidated plan, in accordance with the lessons learned. Mr. President, Afghanistan is now gearing up to retake full responsibility of its institutions by 2014 when the Afghan people will ultimately take full control of their destiny. The international community and regional partners will therefore have an important responsibility to direct all efforts towards helping the people and Government of Afghanistan. We need to work together in order to ensure that any past blunders are duly avoided and a collective policy approach is properly implemented. Mr. President, The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has been deeply engaged with the issue of Afghanistan for almost three decades. It has always maintained a strong and unwavering position in supporting Afghanistan. As an active partner of Afghanistan, we will undoubtedly continue to fully support the country in its peace-building efforts until the year 2014 and beyond. We will also continue to contribute to the socio-economic development and reconstruction of Afghanistan. Fortunately, projects relating to the rehabilitation of rail transportation in the country have been elaborated, as evident in the on-going project to build Dushanbe-Mazar-i Sharif- Herat railway. Similarly, Afghanistan is a part of the OIC Plan of Action for Cooperation with Central Asia which contains cooperation in various areas of agriculture, rural development and food security, trade exchanges, health, education, poverty alleviation, transport as well as research and scientific cooperation. The OIC Permanent Mission in Kabul is now fully operational and is actively engaged with other actors in Afghanistan. Afghanistan today is still plagued by the real threat of terrorism, a matter that arouses our grave concern not just for Afghanistan but for the entire region as well. Last September, Prof. Rabbani who devoted his life to the freedom and prosperity of Afghanistan and to the pursuit of peace and national reconciliation in the country became the target of this evil phenomenon. As we pay tribute to him, we hope that the goals for which he sacrificed his life would be supported and continue. Our commitment to support this process would certainly help overcome any setbacks on the way forward. As far as the OIC is concerned, we have already pledged our readiness to contribute effectively to the process of national reconciliation by using our comparative advantages, potentials and resources in this regard. We will soon organize hopefully in next April a conference of Muslim Ulema to promote the culture of peace and to contribute to the notions of moderation and modernization in Afghanistan which would hopefully help the process of national reconciliation. Mr. President, The stabilization of Afghanistan can not be fully and sustainably achieved without a genuine regional cooperation. Countries in the region have time and again clearly showed political will to work on confidence-building measures for the benefit of the whole region and to bring durable peace and stability to Afghanistan. The international community needs to make every effort to maintain and enhance this partnership. However, noting the recent unfortunate incident along the Pakistani border areas, I should strongly emphasize that extreme caution should be exercised to avoid the recurrence of such incidents in future. Let me conclude by expressing the hope that by the continued support of the international community, Afghanistan will soon embrace peace and sustainable development and further reclaim its position as a catalyst for the promotion of security and cooperation in the region.
