India to invest 500 million US dollars in Afghanistan
Kabul, May 12 ANI: Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has announced a fresh commitment of 500 million US dollars for Afghanistan in the next few years. "Our development assistance commitment to Afghanistan currently stands at approximately 1.5 billion US dollars spread over several sectors, but there are still gaps. We now have a better idea of where we can and should do more. We have decided to make a fresh commitment valued at approximately 500 million US dollars over the next few years," said Dr. Singh in his opening statement at the Joint Press interaction along with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai here. "This will consist of specific projects and schemes and other initiatives that will be developed in consultation with the Government of Afghanistan. Broadly, we will increase our focus on the social sector, agriculture, capacity building, access to the Indian market and continue with our infrastructure projects," he added. Expressing his delight over the increase in the number of Afghan travellers to India, Dr. Singh said: "We are happy that a growing number of Afghans are finding it worthwhile to travel to India for different purposes. We will facilitate such exchanges, including among the business and trading community. We want to ensure unhindered and across the board interaction among our two societies. This is how it has been throughout our history." Dr. Singh further said that his visit to Afghanistan reflects the commitment of the Indian Government to advance its relations to a new level. "President Karzai and I have reviewed the decisions we took during the President's visit to India in February this year. Based on this, we have agreed on a Joint Declaration between our two countries," said Dr. Singh. "The Declaration envisages regular political consultations, the establishment of a Strategic Economic Partnership, education and human resource capacity building, people to people exchanges, regional economic cooperation and cooperation in the area of security and law enforcement," he added. ANI
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