KABUL (SW): President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani shared his vision and plans of transforming Afghanistan into Asian Roundabout with the delegates of over 30 countries and organizations at the Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan here on Friday.
Ghani noted Afghanistan has the will and potential to reclaim its past glory of being a bustling country on the Silk Road. The theme for RECCA VI is “The Silk Road through Afghanistan”. Elaborating the ancient Silk Road, the President recalled it was not just a road but a sophisticated financial system of its times that invented the payment by cheque system and established a number of noble cities in the region. “Kabul in those days was home citizens of almost every region and the practitioner of each citizen”, he said.
He expressed profound hope about the emergence of Asian continental economy in the future.
Ghani told the conference Afghanistan has invested $ 10 billion on various airports across the country and 6 of them would soon be made available for public private partnership. He stressed that the mega trade and transit projects were not at the very initial stages in fact much progress has already been made towards the implementations of them.
The Afghan President told the conference that the fiber optic ring road was under construction, efforts were underway to strengthen petro-chemical and fertilizer industries besides the road and railway networks.
About transparency, Ghani mentioned that himself and his power sharing Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah weekly oversight awarding contracts in a bid to ensure fairness in the procurment process.
ENDS
