India-Afghanistan Joint
Statement
28/08/2005
At the invitation of His
Excellency Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, His
Excellency Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of the Republic
of India, paid a state visit to the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (28-29 August, 2005).
During the visit, the two leaders held talks on a broad range of bilateral
issues as well as regional and international issues of common concern. They
expressed satisfaction at the progress in bilateral relations since President
Hamid Karzai’s
visit to India
(23-25 February, 2005) and agreed to take this relationship into a new stage of
partnership. They affirmed that India
and Afghanistan
enjoy a warm and friendly relationship underpinned by historical ties and
cultural links. The time tested friendship between the people of the two
countries has strived many challenges and is today based on a shared commitment
to the ideals of democracy, peace and security.
India remains
fully supportive to the goal of a sovereign, stable, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan.
Both leaders agreed that such an Afghanistan
is also necessary for peace, security and stability in the region. The two
leaders condemned global terrorism as threat to democracy and declared that
there can be no compromise with those who resort to terrorism. They reiterated
their commitment to work together to ensure that Afghanistan
would never again become a safe heaven for terrorism and extremism.
India
has admired the courageous steps taken by the Afghan Government and the people,
under the leadership of President Hamid
Karzai, towards the restoration of peace and
the adoption of a democratic polity while addressing the challenge of economic
development and reconstruction. President Hamid
Karzai thanked India
for its demonstrated commitment in Afghanistan
by providing more than $ 500 million for projects in the area of
infrastructure, humanitarian assistance and institutional and human resource
development. Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan
Singh reaffirmed India’s
continued commitment and pledged an additional $ 50 million assistance to Afghanistan.
In the presence of Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan
Singh and President Hamid
Karzai, bilateral cooperation agreements in
the areas of Agriculture and Health were signed. A new initiative on ‘Small
Development Projects’ has been launched to work with local communities in
development programmes. Following on a pilot project undertaken by the
Confederation of Indian Industry in pursuance to President Karzai’s
visit to India
earlier this year, the two Governments agreed to launch a “Skill Building
Initiative” in Afghanistan
in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry and the United
Nations. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan
Singh announced that India
will adopt 100 villages in Afghanistan
to promote integrated rural development by introducing solar electrification
and rain water harvesting using technologies that have been developed and
successfully demonstrated in India.
While announcing a gift of 1000 sewing machine to the Ministry of Women’s
Affairs, it was agreed that India
would assist in establishing a Women’s Vocational Training Centre in Kabul.
Prime Minister
Dr. Manmohan Singh
welcomed President Hamid Karzai’s
suggestion to make greater use of Indian institutions for training of Afghans.
In order to accelerate the human resource development process, Prime
Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh
announced 500 scholarships for Afghan students for university education and in
addition, 500 short-term training fellowships under the ITEC programme for
Afghan men and women. A symbol of long-standing cooperation between the two
countries in the field of education is the 102-year old Habibia
School which was destroyed in the
war and after it’s rebuilding by India,
will be jointly inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan
Singh and President Hamid
Karzai later today.
To support Afghanistan’s
steps towards democracy, both countries will expand their cooperation in
building of democratic institutions, infrastructure and human capacity. India
welcomes the forthcoming Parliamentary elections which mark a significant
milestone in this process, and has already set up dedicated training programmes
for Afghanistan
officials. Tomorrow, Baba-e-Millat His Majesty Mohammad
Zabir Shah will lay the foundation stone of the new Parliament
Building in the presence of Prime
Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh
and President Hamid Karzai
at Daral Aman. India
has already committed US $ 25 million for the construction of the Parliament.
President Hamid
Karzai shared his vision of restoring Afghanistan’s
historical rule as a land bridge between Central Asia
and Indian sub-continent and the initiatives taken by rebuilding its road
network. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan
Singh endorsed this vision as a important step for promoting regional cooperation by
encouraging, both trade and people-to-people contact among the countries of the
region.
In this context, President Hamid
Karzai conveyed Afghanistan’s
interest in seeking closer links with SAARC. Prime Minister Dr.
Manmohan Singh
welcomed this initiative and affirmed India’s
support for Afghanistan’s
engagement with SAARC. The two leaders endorsed the need for greater
consultation and cooperation in a future project of a Turkmenistan
gas pipeline to India
that would pass through Afghanistan
and Pakistan.
The two leaders reaffirmed that Afghanistan and India have a common interest in
reinvigorating the past ties and developing a new partnership for the 21st
century. The two leaders emphasised the importance of regular high level
exchanges between the two countries. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh extended
an invitation to President Hamid Karzai to visit India at a mutually convenient
time. President Hamid Karzai conveyed his acceptance to the invitation.
Kabul, Afghanistan
August 28, 2005
Posted on August 31, 2005