World to renew pledges with Afghans in Geneva: EU

KABUL Andreas Brandt says the union and the rest of international community will renew their strong commitments to Afghanistan at the Geneva conference.

The ministerial Geneva conference on Afghanistan which is scheduled for November 23-24 will take place virtually.

The pledging ministerial 2020 Afghanistan conference is co-hosted by Afghanistan, Finland and the United Nations.

Andreas Brandt told a press conference on Tuesday in Kabul that a high-level delegation from the EU would take part in the Geneva conference.

The EU diplomat said they had long-term partnership with Afghanistan and had provided political and financial assistance to the war-torn country over the past years.

He said the EU announced 474 million euros in aid to Afghanistan at the 2018 Geneva inter-ministerial conference on Afghanistan. The fund was spent on civil reforms, justice and elections.

The ambassador said in the next week’s conference in Geneva, the international community would renew its strong commitment to Afghanistan. He hoped the Afghan government would live up to its anti-corruption pledges.

Brandt said Covid-19 had hit not only Afghanistan but European countries as well, adding that the EU had so far provided 146 million euros in aid to Afghanistan.

The diplomat said Afghanistan had made significant progress over the past 19 years in various sectors and women’s rights and their participation in various fields were one of the key achievements. He added that major progress had recently been made in the peace process as well.

The EU and the rest of the international community supported a peace process that would pave the way for a political settlement in Afghanistan, he declared.

sa/ma

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