KABUL (SW): The Finance Minister Eklil Hakimi on Tuesday met the Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank Wencai Zhang in Kabul who was on his first visit to Afghanistan after his appointment as the ADB Vice-President in December 2013.
The main themes of discussion between the ADB Vice-President and Finance Minister revolved around infrastructure development, regional connectivity through ADB’s investments in railways, road and energy networks, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said in a statement.
ADB is ranked fourth largest donors to Afghanistan, and the first multilateral with a portfolio of over USD $ 250 million dollar per year.
Noting the great support ADB is providing to Afghanistan, Finance Minister said: “The Afghan government sincerely appreciates ADB’s continued support for the economic development – particularly key infrastructure building – of Afghanistan, which has affected the lives and livelihood of every Afghan today.”
Besides ADB’s generous grant assistance to Afghanistan, ADB also administers the Afghanistan Infrastructure Trust Fund (AITF), the MoF added.
Afghanistan believes that improved economic cooperation and interdependency between Afghanistan and countries in the neighborhood not only helps bringing prosperity to the people of the region but it also promotes peace and mutual trust amongst the countries, it added.
Discussing ADB’s Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) project, Finance Minister praised ADB’s role in helping the region to become more prosperous and interdependent.
ADB Vice-President Wencai Zhang expressed ADB’s keen desire in remaining a reliable partner to Afghanistan and assured Bank’s continued support and engagement in the country for many years to come.
ENDS
