Monday June 8, 2015
Kabul (BNA) President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani met with a high-ranking delegation from the member states of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) yesterday at presidential Palace, the President Press Office in a statement said BNA.
The delegation was in Afghanistan to participate in the ceremony to inaugurate Bamyan the first cultural capital of the SAARC member states. In the meeting that took place in Arg, the President thanked the delegation for choosing Bamyan as the cultural capital of SAARC, the statement added. The President said that Afghanistan’s relations with the people of SAARC member states back to thousands of years. Addressing the delegation, the President added that your presence in the ceremony further consolidates the historical relations, the statement further added. The President stated that Afghanistan was the round-about for flow of goods, ideas and peoples’ interactions for two thousand years in Asia. Calling the destruction of the Buddha statues in Bamyan an act of cultural genocide, the President said: “Imperialism couldn’t conquer us, but it did manage to marginalize us.” He vowed to restore Afghanistan’s historical position as a tourist destination in the world. The President said that the northern parts of Afghanistan had a writing system two thousand years ago and we take pride in that and our cultural heritage. President Ghani also stressed on the need for careful and proper management of artifacts in mining sites. He called on SAARC member states to share their experiences in this area with Afghanistan. Director of SAARC cultural center, Mr. G.L.W Samarsinghe thanked the government and people of Afghanistan for hosting the delegation and warm hospitality. He called the cultural history of Afghanistan fascinating and added that Bamyan would continue to be the site for hosting different cultural programs and festivals of the SAARC member states, the statement concluded.
