KABUL (SW): The Government of Afghanistan, the international community and representatives from Afghanistan’s civil society and the private sector met on Wednesday at the 2017 Senior Officials Meeting to discuss progress and achievements in Afghanistan’s development and reform agenda, and to reaffirm their partnership and commitment to the country’s long-term development.
President Ashraf Ghani is expected to deliver a keynote address to open the meeting, which comes exactly one year after the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan, held in October 2016. Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah is scheduled to offer closing remarks. The Minister of Finance, Eklil Hakimi, and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, will co-chair the meeting.
Other components of today’s side event include an exhibition of selected entries in the “Rebirth of Afghanistan” photo competition sponsored by the Ministry of Finance with support from UNESCO, as well as an exhibit and a live mural painting by art collective ArtLords.
At the 2012 Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan, the Afghan Government and the international community agreed to conduct annual high-level meetings to discuss progress on Afghanistan’s development and reform priorities. The last such meeting was the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan, held 5 October 2016 in Brussels, Belgium, where international partners committed and confirmed their intention to provide USD 15.2 billion (+/- EUR 13.6 billion) in support of Afghanistan's development priorities for the period 2017-2020, and committed to convene at a senior officials meeting in 2017. Today’s gathering fulfils that commitment in the communique of the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan.
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