DCM Haidari Appreciates India’s Capacity Building Assistance to Afghanistan

New Delhi: - On August 8, 2014, Deputy Chief of Mission M. Ashraf Haidari was invited as a Guest of Honor to participate in a graduation ceremony of international trainees, including Afghan professionals, hosted by India’s National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development. The Afghan participants received training in rural enterprise management; international marketing and global competitiveness; human resource development and entrepreneurship education; as well as development and planning.

Speaking to the graduates, Mr. Haidari thanked the government and people of India for their continued support for the stabilization and reconstruction of Afghanistan. He noted that Afghanistan and India had been enjoying ancient ties, which underpin the two countries’ Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA). He highlighted the importance of institutional capacity building as one of the core objectives of the SPA aimed at enabling Afghanistan to stand on its own feet. “I am also delighted to see so many young participants from Africa, the continent of future, and I have no doubt that you and our participants have exchanged views and shared your rich experiences with one another,” said Mr. Haidari. In addition to Afghanistan, Ghana, Sudan, South Africa, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Egypt, and others have sent their professionals to partake in the Institute’s 40-day training programs.

Following the ceremony, Mr. Haidari met with the Afghan graduates separately, and received positive input from them about the program. He also met with Mr. Arun Kumar Jha, the Director General of the Institute, and thanked him for the quality of their training programs, and requested him to increase the number of Afghan participants, in light of Afghanistan’s vast institutional capacity building needs. He also encouraged the establishment of direct working relationship between the Institute and Afghanistan’s Civil Service Institute by singing a long-term technical cooperation MOU, which Mr. Jha welcomed.