India has urged for action on combating extremism, separatism in Afghanistan and dismantling financial and other support to terrorists during the Senior Officials Meeting of ‘Heart of Asia’ Conference held in Delhi on Tuesday. The conference focuses on redevelopme-nt and stability in Afghanistan.
During the meeting of senior officials of 14 countries, India warned against mainstreaming armed groups without adhering to the red lines and sought to promote connectivity of Afghanistan with regional markets by implementing the trade and transit agreements.
India is an active participatant in the six Confidence Building Mechanisms under the Heart of Asia mechanism. These CBMs are on counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, disaster management, education, regional infrastructure and rade commerce and investment opportunities in Afghanistan. India leads the trade, commerce and investment opportunities CBM, which is implemented by FICCI under the guidance of MEA and Department of Commerce.
“For our stable and prosperous region, a strong, peaceful, prosperous and democratic Afghanistan is an imperative… To achieve progress and prosperity together, we need to address challenges together. This is not only in Afghanistan’s interest, but in the interest of the whole of the Heart of Asia region. It is our collective and individual responsibility to help and support Afghanistan in combating the challenges it faces to its stability and security,” said Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (Retd) VK Singh during his inaugural address.
He mentioned connectivity in the region as the centerpiece of all efforts to enhance trade, commerce and investment among regional countries while mentioning the development of Chahbahar port in Iran. India “is also willing to avail of other regional and trans-regional connectivity initiatives such as the North - South Transport Corridor and the Ashgabat Agreement,” he added.
Earlier, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar met Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai during which they discussed the situation in Afghanistan in the context of the deadly terrorist attack in Kabul on 19 April and the response of the international community to the continuing violence in Afghanistan. Developments regarding the Chahbahar project and Salma Dam were also discussed along with India’s various other development assistance and support to Afghanistan.