Excellency YuryPetrovich,estmeed Senator Igor Morozov, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 3rd Joint Afghanistan – Russia Economic Commission Session. I once again welcome the esteemed Russian delegation to Kabul and wish them a pleasant stay and fruitful talks. I am very pleased that the commission participants once again meet to deliberate on matters of importance to our people and governments and work together to explore the best possible ways to further enhance economic and commercial cooperation.
We believe in having friendly relations with our neighbors and brothers that are in the best interest of our people based on mutual respect and interests. Economic cooperation is one of the best means to do that and our Joint Economic Commission is the most appropriate forum to this end. Taking openness, inclusiveness and mutual benefits as its core values, enhancing connectivity of markets to promote prosperity and development of our countries and our region, Afghanistan strongly endorses regional cooperation and integration. Recognizing the pragmatic cooperation course in the facilitation of unimpeded trade leading to shared destinies, economies, and cultures, Afghanistan stands ready to enhance regional economic cooperation.
In the past 14 years we have received generous support from the international community. Regional support support can and should compliment it. I am quite sure that in cooperation with regional partners like Your Excellency our countries will be able to open new areas of cooperation and fortify existing initiatives.
As such we are keen to encourage and support closer linkages between and among Afghan and Russian investors to promote investments in both countries, including through joint ventures. I take this opportunity to call on both Afghan and Russian working groups to complete the mutual investment protection and promotion agreement that could further booste investor confidence, allowing Russian investors to seek a wide range of investment opportunities in Afghanistan.
Being a land-locked country, Afghanistan has to rely on its neighbors to help it break the shackles of poverty and, with it, insecurity. As a result, we place great importance to regional connectivity through roads, rail and air to connect our people and facilitate our commercial and economic ties. All we have to do as the stewards of cooperation, Excellency, is to remove obstacles that stand in the way of our people, our businesses and our industries that seek linkages and ties with their counterparts.
Furthermore, taking into consideration the importance of our long term and friendly cooperation in areas of education, we look forward to signing the MoU on Natural Sciences Cooperation that lends strength to our higher education sector. Russia is the second largest receiver of our young men and women seeking higher education. This coming together of two historical neighbors around such a hopeful and propitious subject is not only coming back to the basics but also future looking.
Excellency Yury Petrovich, in addition to reaffirming our mutual and shared commitment to strengthening and broadening the economic partnership between our two countries, I would like to explore with you the possibility of finding ways and means that would enable us to go from words into actions and agreements into concrete outcomes and results for our people. I think it would be fair to say that when it comes to practical follow up and implementation, we have neither matched the shared goals nor have we delivered satisfactorily on the scope of the decisions we have made. I therefore invite the joint working groups to carefully identify the sound mechanisms and suitable areas of cooperation in their respective fields.
Commerce and exchange have always been significant factors in the development of civilizations far and wide –from China in the east to the Indian subcontinent to Persia to Arabia and Africa and toexpansive Europe in the west. Trade gave way to political and economic relations between the civilizations. That exchange continues to be a reality today as our economies have become so intertwined. It is our goal to strengthen the platform for that exchange. As such, I invite the joint working groups of energy, commerce and transit, and education to lend foundation that could sustain the platform for exchange and cooperation between our people and out nations.
Thank you very much and once again, welcome to our beautiful Kabul!