Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Kabul (BNA) President Hamid Karzai chaired the plenary session of the council of ministers (CM) held yesterday at presidential palace in which initially the CM offered prayers to the souls of the martyrs of suicide attack in Samngan in which a number of innocent countrymen including Ahmad Khan Samangani peoples deputy at the National Assembly, General Sayed Ahmad Same the commander of zone 606 Ansar of Herat, Colonel Ahmad Khan director of national security department of Smangan, Colonel Mohammadullah commander of training center of army corps 209 Shaheen and Abdul Wadoud head of procurement department of the interior ministry and others who were wounded at this incident.
The assigned delegation led by deputy head of investigations of the attorney general office should complete its probe and present its report to the presidential office.
President Karzai informed the CM over the holding of the Tokyo international Conference with participation of 80 countries and international foundations on the 18th of Saratan in Japan led by the Afghan and expressed satisfaction over its achievements and considered it as positive.
He noted that at this conference the international community expressed its support to the long-term strategy of Afghanistan towards self-sufficiency of the government of Afghanistan and confirmation of the developments of the past ten years and expressed support in this respect including provision of 18 billion US dollars till 2015 for Afghanistan and the government of Afghanistan committed specific achievements in different spheres in framework of mutual accountability in this respect.
President Karzai said that it is a matter of pleasure and pride for us that at this conference addition to the commitments of the international community pertaining to economic, security and political support, there have been other valuable achievements including specifying of the position of the Islamic republic of Afghanistan at world level and the support of the world community of this position for preparing the implementation of the bilateral commitments of the Tokyo Conference, the follow up mechanism in the framework of the Kabul process so that the commitments are supervised every three months and the ministry of finance will report on its result to the CM accordingly.
At this conference president Karzai delivered a comprehensive speech in a part of which mention is made of the achievements of the past ten years, progress, impediments, problems and note has been made of serious struggle against corruption within the government foundations and assured the participants of the conference that in order to reach self-sufficiency and stability attributed the needs of the country in strivings of the Afghans and continued support of the international community.
At the end of the conference, a joint statement for a self-reliant Afghanistan from the transition to transformation in 22 articles along with accountability mutual framework with the executive commitments of the Tokyo conference was issued.
Alongside this conference president Karzai in his separate meetings with the emperor and prime minister of Japan, the UN secretary General, the US secretary of state and Japan foreign minister, the president was awarded the honorary doctorate by the Academic Institute of Japan.
The CM also discussed the resignation of seven leading members of the AISA and it was decided that the Minister of Economy, the attorney general, head of the high administration for struggle against corruption led by minister of justice precisely study the issue and present its result to the CM in one week time.
The CM also discussed the decree of the president pertaining to realization of the contents of the historic speech of first of Saratan of current year at the extraordinary session of the National Assembly that has been prepared by the administration affairs in 14 phrases for bringing of improvement in good governance and the tasks of the government organs in good governance, socio-economic and security growth, serious struggle against corruption, strengthening of the process of peace for the three state powers and the ministries and government departments was presented by Sadeq Mudaber general director of administration affairs and secretariat of the CM.
The CM confirmed the decree in principle and assigned the administration affairs of the CM that in view of the proposed points of the cabinet members, the decree is finalized and after approval of the presidential office is published by the media so that the government organs implement its contents.
The CM also assigned the ministers of foreign affairs, energy and water, interior affairs and finance to adopt immediate measures for accelerating the work on the Salma Dam and it is possible the project is financed through the national budget of the country and the report in his respect is presented to the presidential office in due time.
Minister of public health informed the CM on the conclusion of contract of Jamouriat Hospital and its problems in relation to extension of its contract, merging of the contagious diseases hospital with it, procurement of over USD 52.0 million for purchase of equipments and building of its additional attachments.
The CM confirmed conclusion of the hospital contract with the Agha Khan Organization considering its international standards and instructed the ministries of public health, finance, higher education and justice to study legal aspects of the contract in the light of Afghanistan’s interest considering the duration of the contract, undertakings of the Agha Khan Organization, tax waiving, training of its cadres and creation of the center for upgrading the personnel capacities and finalize this issue with that organization and inform the presidential office.
Marshal Mohammad Qaseem Fahim First Vice-president informed the CM on the decisions of the law committee of the CM and said that last week the law on mines and petroleum were discussed and as these have direct links with the interests of the country they should be discussed at the extraordinary meeting of the committee.
The CM assigned the justice ministry to present the draft law on mines and petroleum for Wednesday 28th of Saratan extraordinary session of the CM.
At the end, minister of higher education informed the draft of the list of educational scholarships to the CM which was confirmed.
