Addressing a private sector side event in Geneva on Tuesday, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani said that his administration has created the legal structure for the mining sector in the country.
He said that Afghanistan’s natural resources can play a vital role in dealing with poverty and instability in the country .
“To deal with poverty and instability on one side, but prosperity and empowerment on the other, the other side of the equation is our natural resources. Our natural resources are estimated to be worth one trillion dollars. But they remain on paper,” said Ghani.
The president said that government has also created the legal structure for mining and natural resources so that they become a source of stability and prosperity.
“In order for them to become manifest and to become a source of stability, we have created the legal structure. The mining law and the hydrocarbon law are among the very best and we have a structure of checks and balances where all the contracts are carefully reviewed by an international firm within the structure of the government,” added Ghani.
Ghani said that agriculture is key to stability and global security.
“Agriculture is key to stability and to global security and agriculture is key to overcoming the challenge of narcotics,” he said.
Ghani said that private sector and market building must move
“The state, civil society and the market are not in opposition, they require a unity. This comes under the agenda of market building,” he said.
Meanwhile, CEO Abdullah Abdullah called on the international community to help Afghanistan tackle the issue of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
“I hope that our discussions today here help us towards finding practical and sustainable ways and resolution for millions of Afghan citizens either displaced inside the country or live outside the country as asylum seekers and migrants,” said Abdullah at a meeting on the sidelines of the conference.
Abdullah said that over six million Afghans have returned to their country since 2002.
“While six million Afghans repatriated to their country since 2002 we still have over 3 million refugees in the neighboring countries and some other parts of the world.
Abdullah also expressed his gratitude to Pakistan and Iran for hosting millions of Afghan refugees.
The Afghan government and the United Nations are co-hosting the conference on Afghanistan in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday and the world is expected to renew its commitment and solidarity with the Afghan people and the Afghan government in their bid for peace and security.
The conference provides a platform for the Afghan government and international community to demonstrate progress and commitment, and maintain the momentum for presidential elections and opportunities for peace and security.
The conference also aims to emphasize the importance and the implementation of mutual commitments made by the Afghan government and the international community towards reform and development and in measuring results against the $15.2 billion committed by the international community for Afghanistan in 2016.
