Afghan foreign minister Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta at an official invitation from Mr. Abdullah Gull, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey to pay a visit to Turkey during 11 to 14 October, 2006.

In this trip the foreign minister will have meetings with Turkish president, Prime minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Speaker of Parliament and he is due to deliver a speech regarding the Afghanistan foreign policy and global issues at the Ankara University.

Afghan foreign minister will also attend the opening ceremony of private sector traders’ association in Istanbul.

Turkey has pledged 5 millions USD in Tokyo conference, 5 millions USD in Berlin conference and 100 millions in London conference to Afghanistan.

The main completed and ongoing projects by Turkey in Afghanistan are establishment of Afghan Turkish school, well digging , road repair and road construction in the north of the country, provision of equipments and facilities for a public hospital called Ata Turk in Kabul, rehabilitation of hospitals and clinics, donation of two million measles vaccines dosages, sending of 100 patients annually to Turkey with sicknesses that cannot be managed in Afghanistan, and several other projects in Agriculture, education, training and sports fields.

Meanwhile the Turkish Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) is based in Maidan Wardak and they will officially open their projects at the end of October 2006. It is worth mentioning that 618 Turkish troops under NATO are currently providing services in Maidan Wardak and so far, twice the commandment of NATO-led forces has been taken by Turkey in Afghanistan. And Turkish troops is due to assume this responsibility in the year 2007 for the third time.

Fourteen Afghan diplomats from MOFA and 20 officials form Counter Narcotics ministry are busy being trained in Turkey currently. Republic of Turkey has granted 70 scholarships to the Ministry of Higher Education in the current year.