Minister says Turkey to grant $150 million to Afghanistan

Development Minister Cevdet Yılmaz has announced that Turkey will provide $150 million in aid to Afghanistan from 2015 to 2017 for development projects.During an international conference held in Tokyo on Saturday on Afghanistan’s future after the current NATO mission, Turkey in addition to other attendees, pledged to support the conflict-torn country. Yılmaz, who represented Turkey at the conference, expressed his appreciation to Japan for organizing the conference and commended Afghanistan’s efforts on preparing a strategic vision that would help lead the country’s development.

The minister said that the $150 million in aid would be for development projects, with a special focus on capacity-building and human capital including education, training and development.

Touching on a number of development projects that Turkey is currently carrying out in Afghanistan, Yılmaz said those projects would be completed by 2014. Yılmaz also mentioned Turkey’s contribution to the country in fields such as agriculture, health, education, rural development, infrastructure and training of security forces. Reminding his audience that Turkey had allotted funds for such training in the past, Yılmaz reaffirmed Turkey’s commitment to assisting Afghanistan’s security forces by providing $60 million in aid between 2015 and 2017. Yılmaz highlighted the importance of such high-level international conferences about Afghanistan’s future, saying that such initiatives would bring prosperity, stability and permanent peace to the country.

Afghanistan’s transition is on track, and national security forces are preparing to assume total control of the country’s security as NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission prepares to leave the country at the end of 2014 after 11 years.

08.07.2012
SOURCE: TODAYS ZAMAN