Daily Times

DUSHANBE: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Thursday attended the tripartite meeting with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon and Afghan President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani in Dushanbe.

“During the meeting held in a sincere, cordial and friendly atmosphere, the leaders discussed the ways of further strengthening and development of trilateral and multilateral cooperation, as well as topical regional and international issues,” an official press release issued at the end of the meeting stated.

“The three leaders appreciated the shared historic, religious and cultural values and bonds between the peoples of the three countries, emphasised the importance of further enhancement of mutually beneficial relations in all areas that meet the interest of sustained peace and stability, socio-economic development, progress and solidarity of the three countries and the entire region,” it said.

A joint declaration was also issued at the end of the meeting.

Joint declaration:

The leaders, stated that ensuring peace, stability and security in countries is the key factor to promote and maintain constructive process of sustainable development at the regional and global level;

1. Emphasised the importance of respecting and following the norms of international law and principles of the UN Charter;

2. Reiterated that stability and security in their countries and the region is directly linked with and depends on the situation in Afghanistan and expressed their commitment to support the international community’s efforts in reviving peace and stability, political, economic and social development of Afghanistan. The parties once again emphasised the importance of the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace negotiations and national reconciliation process in Afghanistan.

3. Stated their full support of the “Kabul Process”, which strengthens other initiatives on Afghanistan based on regional peace, security and integration, and call on all armed groups to cease fire and start the process of peace negations with the government of Afghanistan at the earliest possible.

4. Support their countries efforts in counteraction to international terrorism and extremism and recognise the importance of strengthening trilateral and multilateral cooperation on fight against the extremism, terrorism, illicit drugs trafficking and other transnational organised crimes.

5. Would implement effective and concerted initiatives in liquidating the sources of military and financial support of terrorism and extremism by taking into account the central and coordinating role of the United Nations, including the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and its other relevant papers.

6. Instructed the relevant authorities of the three countries to establish a Joint Working Group on Security at the earliest possible and undertake necessary and coordinated efforts to exchange in urgent information, ensure reliable border cooperation, design joint operations on liquidation of terrorists and all sources of their financing and also prevent promotion of extremist and radicalisation ideas through cyberspace.

7. Acknowledge that sustainable Afghanistan is the factor for further integration of the region’s countries and emphasise the importance of constructive cooperation between the three countries for the regional sustainable development.

8. Instruct to establish “Joint Commission on Trilateral Cooperation between Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan” under the leadership of the ministers of foreign affairs or the ministers and heads of other relevant authority of the three countries and develop and implement strategy of trilateral political, economic, trade, transport and communication, industrial, agricultural, cultural, educational, environmental and people-to-people cooperation through this platform.

9. With a view to boosting trade and economic cooperation between the three countries, they instructed the chambers of commerce and industry to consider the issue of arrangement of regular joint exhibitions of industrial, agricultural and handicraft goods, joint economic, trade and investment fora and other publicity events and undertake necessary activities.

10. Having expressed their satisfaction with the outcomes of the meeting of the heads of state and governments of the countries participating in the CASA 1000 Project and the project’s international partners held on 6 July 2017 in Dushanbe, they emphasised the importance of the implementation of this milestone project, which is the factor of sustainable development of the participant countries and the cross-regional integration, at the earliest.

11. The parties, having referred to the importance of regional integration and transit capacity of the three countries, acknowledge the importance of further concerted efforts on implementation of joint projects on construction of railway and highway networks between the three countries and attraction of investments in this sector and will undertake effective measures to ensure the security of transit highways in transport and energy sectors.

12. Acknowledge the importance of the outcomes of the Economic Cooperation Organisation’s 13th Summit held in Islamabad and implementation of the “ECO Vision 2025” Agenda for comprehensive integration of the region’s countries in all areas.

13. Emphasised the need to continue close and beneficial cooperation within the UN and its specialised agencies, as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Islamic Cooperation Organisation and the Economic Cooperation Organisation. The parties will coordinate their positions on important international and regional issues through periodical exchange in views and consultations.

14. Decided to continue holding the meeting of the heads of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan as the coordination tool and driver of a complex of trilateral beneficial cooperation and hold it in one of the countries by rotation.

Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Muhammad Ashraf Ghani offered their appreciation and gratitude to President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon for the warm and cordial hospitality, and the favorable environment to achieve positive outcomes of the Trilateral Meeting in Dushanbe.

Published in Daily Times, July 7^th , 2017.