JCMB OKs 4 agreements

KABUL): The Afghan government and the international community on Wednesday approved four agreements at the 17th meeting of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB), officials said.

Participants of the meeting included, Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal, Cabinet members, outgoing UNAMA chief Staffan de Mistura, representatives of foreign embassies, the European Union and the World Bank.

“One pact concerns preparations for the second Bonn conference, the second for achieving the goals set out at Kabul and London conferences, the third pertains to programmes for rural roads, and the fourth to an integrated trade and small and medium enterprise support facility,” Zakhilwal said.

The pacts would be endorsed by the global fraternity at the Bonn meeting, he said, adding the world fraternity would be urged to give greater economic and development responsibility to Afghans.

Speaking on the occasion the UN special envoy said: “We now have a vision and a pathway for achieving it. Good governance and mutual accountability between the government and its international partners will be critical to success.”

The Afghan government and the international community agreed to establish the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) for overall strategic coordination of the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact that was approved at the London Conference in January 2006.

In June 2010, President Karzai and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon co-chaired the Kabul Conference, which marked a new phase in the partnership between the government of Afghanistan and the international community.

The Kabul Conference endorsed in principle 22 National Priority Programmes and furthered the ‘Kabul Process’ indicating a heightened commitment to a secure, prosperous and democratic Afghanistan
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