Distinguished guests,

It is a great pleasure for us, the Afghan people, to welcome you today in Kabul for the first gathering in Afghanistan about regional cooperation. We are happy, as the Afghan people, that Afghanistan now is peaceful and stable enough to host its neighbors, its friends and countries in the region. So very, very warm welcome from the Afghan people to all of you. I must also thank, on behalf of the Afghan people, the G8 cooperation in facilitating and putting together this conference.

For obvious reasons, the world not only wants to see more stability and peace in Afghanistan, and economic prosperity and reconstruction of this country, but also a regional economic growth and improvement in the lives of the people of this region.

This region, the 12 countries that are represented here today, together have nearly 3 billion people. It is the fastest growing region in terms of the expansion of the economies of the individual states and also in terms of the consuming power of this region.

Afghanistan is privileged and happy, to have now an opportunity after the 30 years of suffering, to consider itself a partner, a contributor, though in a very small way, in a very small way, to the economic growth of the region as a facilitator, as a buyer of goods as well.

Peace in Afghanistan, the building of the Afghan state, no doubt, as we saw in the past four years, has contributed in terms of very good dividends for the countries in the region.

Almost all of our neighbors with whom we have trade, have sold their goods to Afghanistan, have exported to Afghanistan, in proportions extremely unparalleled to four years ago. To illustrate, I would like to give an example of 3 or 4 countries, 5 countries around us, trade from Pakistan to Afghanistan, exports from Pakistan to Afghanistan, four years ago, in 2001, in the times of the Taliban, was as, I recall Prime Minister Jamali, former Prime Minister of Pakistan telling me, was US$ 26 million annually. Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan, in 2001, were US$ 26 million.

Today, as I heard it from our brothers in Pakistan, this export is at more than 1.2 billions, that is an increase of maybe up to 50 times in 4 years. The same is with Iran, trade and exports from Iran have multiplied many, many folds, and when H.E. President Rahmanov was here some months ago, he mentioned to me that trade with Tajikistan has also gone up by 4 or 5 times.

There are, perhaps, thousands I should say, the respectable Chinese delegation can correct me, thousands of Afghan businessmen that go to China every year, hundreds or so in a month. And exports from China to Afghanistan as well have gone up in a very significant way.

Movement of people between Afghanistan and the region has picked up significantly. There are daily flights; 2 or 3, between Afghanistan and Dubai, the Emirates, there are flights to Pakistan, there are flights to Iran, there are flights to India, there are flights to China, there are flights to other parts of the world, in Europe.

So the conclusion is easy and simple that a peaceful, stable and growing Afghanistan is an asset, indeed, for the Afghan people and also very much for the people in this region, near and far, close and beyond. Afghanistan today wants to grow, wants to expand its economy, wants to provide a better standard of living for its people.

Today’s Afghanistan is not an Afghanistan in terms of politics; it doesn’t wish that, it wishes economic growth and prosperity. For the past so many decades, this region, our neighbors, and the world at large looked at Afghanistan from a purely political point of view, the considerations of this country were political, as it was looked at from abroad.

Today, my appeal to you, ladies and gentlemen, is to take a different look at Afghanistan, to take an economic look at Afghanistan, to see what Afghanistan can offer for the good of the people of this whole region, to see Afghanistan’s potentials in further improving the environment of business and trade in this region. Afghanistan will be a facilitator of trade, Afghanistan’s roads, Afghanistan’s airports, Afghanistan’s borders are totally at your disposal for economic activities.

Because that is also what we need in Afghanistan, the broader the cooperation in this region for better economies, better business, better transactions, the better will be the life of the Afghan people and also the life of the countries in the region, as I mentioned earlier.

We would like to be bridging countries together, as each country has its role to play in bridging this region together, so will Afghanistan play its role in the best possible way to provide a better opportunity for the people of this region.

We, the countries in this region from China to Turkey, from Kazakistan to Afghanistan and beyond, have, perhaps, the best potentials available nowadays to any region in the world, immense manpower, educational possibilities, resources and the skills needed and the relations needed with the rest of the world.

If Europe could make it through the European Union, and if they could add tremendous value to the daily life of the European people, if ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) could do the same things, if other regional co operations could do the same things, our region has equally or more capabilities, only if we look at things economically and if we work to expand what we desire for each of us beyond to other countries.

The world is shrinking, globalization is taking effect all around, for individual countries like ours, the best way to benefit from globalization is first to be able to work more closely with each other as a region, to provide the facilities that any human being in any society would need, to our people, to

allow them to move and to trade and to improve their lives. The only way forward for this region is through a broader regional cooperation.

Now as I see it, as the Afghan people see it, today’s initiative is not to create something new, it is not to create a new organization or a new forum, it is to bring into effect the implementation of what we already have, to put into action the ideals of the forums that already exist in this part of the world.

In other words, to put it into human contact, to enable a trader from Kazakistan to be able to come and sell his goods in Afghanistan and use Afghanistan’s roads to go to Iran and use Iran’s roads and railways to go beyond, to the Emirates, to enable a Chinese businessman to do the same, an Iranian businessman to do the same in the other direction and Pakistani man or woman to do the same.

This is to allow movement of goods and ideas to travel, and travel easily. For that we need to coordinate better in terms of our customs, practices, facilitating easy visas for our businesses, easy entries at the borders, to make life easier for businesses and enterprise. In the past four years, Turkish businesses have taken projects worth half a billion dollars in Afghanistan, 500 million dollars.

There are Chinese firms working in Afghanistan, there are South Korean firms working in Afghanistan, there are Pakistani firms working in Afghanistan, there are Indian companies working in Afghanistan, all other countries in this region have that opportunity as well here and Afghanistan wishes the same for all.

Trade, I mentioned, facilitating transport, I mentioned, one more area where Afghanistan is in the greatest of needs which can also be a good example of regional cooperation is in the area of power supply, energy, through the national power system, Afghanistan can only provide 6 percent of its population with electricity. The businesses, the investments from the countries in the region, from our neighbors, in Afghanistan we need power to run them.

All other activities in this country need power to run them. We are grateful that today we can buy electricity from Uzbekistan, from Turkmenistan, from Tajikistan and from Iran, and Afghanistan will be buying much more electricity from these countries and any other countries that want to offer power to Afghanistan.

This transaction will be a very good example of regional cooperation and will link the countries in this region together through power. Afghanistan will need imported electricity for at least a decade or a decade and a half or more. So one good and full example of regional cooperation will be if we can buy more electricity, and in this case Afghanistan will be the buyer, Afghanistan will be the purchaser.

Afghanistan lacks human resources; we already have 50 to 60 thousands expatriate laborers in this country, foreign laborers. We need expertise in this country in all walks of life.

Afghanistan is offering an opportunity to all the countries in this region, those who have not already sent us their skilled people, their experts, to please take these opportunities and come and work in Afghanistan.

Two more areas that are a “must”, an absolute necessity for this region to grow and grow without crimes and fight against narcotics trade, the plantation of poppies, the smuggling and trading of narcotics.

All of us, all of the countries in this region have departments dealing with narcotics and anti-narcotics activities, but I don’t think that there is much cooperation or coordination between these individual narcotics departments in the countries.

It will be a very good example of regional cooperation if all the countries in this region could join hands in some fashion of coordination to coordinate and improve the anti-narcotics activities for all of us.

Without fighting crime, especially crime of this nature, which can criminalize our economies which can aid terrorism and anarchy, our economies in real terms, will have very little chance of proper growth, legitimate growth and also as was proven in Afghanistan, stability and peace is the first requirement and imperative, indeed, for prosperity and economic growth.

Terrorism is hurting all of us in this region, we are all concerned about the damage that they can cause to us on a daily basis, the damage that they actually cause to all of us on a daily basis and there is no exception in this region, all countries of this region are somehow affected by terrorism.

Another very effective area of cooperation will be a joint struggle against terrorism to facilitate better growth, more confidence of the businesses and investment in all our countries in the region.

We do not have, at least, Afghanistan does not have today an ambitious plan, our view is that we can work to implement on the ideals that we have today in a small but effective way in all areas in coordination of borders and facilitating better visas, easy visas to trade, to all other aspects.

Let’s take the first steps, even if they are small but I am sure that those steps will grow in strength and will eventually give our people better hope and as I speak, ladies and gentlemen, I am not speaking for today alone, I have my eyes fixed on the future, for the future of this region, for our children, for the children of our children and for the future generations.

The small steps that we take in improving the daily lives of the people today will have a greater impact for a better life for the future generations and I hope that there will be time in the future that all of us today will be remembered as those who provided by a small action a better future for the next generations.

I welcome you once again to Afghanistan and wish you a very happy stay here and all the best of success for this conference.

Thank you very much,