Afghan Foreign Minister seeks OSCE support

VIENNA, 4 December 2003 - Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah thanked the OSCE on Thursday for granting his country the status of Partner for Co-operation and asked for the Organization's support as Afghanistan seeks to build security and stability.

"Afghanistan is in the beginning of a process of nation-building and we can learn from the experience of the OSCE," he said in his first address to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.

The Minister, who also attended the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Maastricht earlier this week, said Afghanistan had once been a centre of destabilisation for the whole world. It had now become a country whose people lived in peace with one other but there were still considerable problems and challenges, especially concerning security and the illegal drugs trade.

"One of the major issues where the OSCE can play a role, in partnership with the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, is in combating trafficking in narcotics," Minister Abdullah told the 55 OSCE ambassadors.

"Other areas are border controls and police capacity-building, where the OSCE has excellence, as well as de-mining, legal and institutional capacity building, human rights and the rights of women and minorities. These are all issues which one could consider within the scope of co-operation between the OSCE and Afghanistan."

Responding to the Minister's remarks, the Chairman of the OSCE Permanent Council, Netherlands Ambassador Justus de Visser, said Afghanistan enjoyed considerable goodwill among OSCE participating States, three of which share borders with the country.

"There is an understanding that helping Afghanistan is a matter of enlightened self-interest for all our countries," Ambassador de Visser said.