Transcript Afghan Symposium Humanitarian
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Afghan Symposium, 30 June 2009, Chapter 1/7 – page 1 Transcript Afghan Symposium Humanitarian and Leadership Engagement June 30, 2009 Washington, DC Chairman Ehsan Bayat Afghan Wireless, Ariana Television & Radio, Bayat Foundation Co-Chairman Ajmal Ghani, Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce Honorary Chairman Amb. Said T. Jawad, Afghan Ambassador to the US Ms. Wyatt Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and honored guests. The 2009 Afghan Symposium for Humanitarian and Leadership Engagement is called to order with Chairman Ehsan Bayat, Co-Chairman Ajmal Ghani, our Co-Host and Chairman of the Afghan American Chamber of Commerce, and Honorary Chairman, His Excellency, Said Tayeb Jawad, Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States. Thank you for traveling from as far as Kabul, San Francisco, and Toronto to be with us today to share best practices and establish an Afghan Trusted Network for good in Afghanistan. My name is Rosalie Wyatt. I’m the Bayat Foundation Board Secretary and Advocate. Allow me to introduce you to our Symposium Co-Chair, Ajmal Ghani, who is Chairman of the Afghan American Chamber of Commerce, our Co-Host today, and President of the Afghan Sports Federation. Ajmal. (Rosalie J. Wyatt, The Bayat Foundation) Mr. Ghani Thank you very much, Rosalie. Ladies and gentlemen, honored guests, Ambassador, Mr. Bayat, Mrs. Bayat. As Co-Chair of this symposium and Chairman of the Afghan American Chamber of Commerce (AACC), I’m pleased to welcome all of you and want to thank, specifically, Rosalie for doing such a hard work. Congratulations, Rosalie, you worked very hard in doing that, so a round of applause for Rosalie. Today’s program reads like a Who‘s Who of organizations and individuals making important contributions to the vision of Afghanistan we all want to see happen. AACC is pleased to have collaborated with the Bayat Foundation in generating interest and participation in today’s activities. AACC leadership is actively participating in different panels. We have Mr. Atiq Panjshiri, who is the founding AACC President, representing the Afghan Sports Federation (ASF) as the Executive Director. ASF is the largest sports organization in the world outside of Afghanistan. Atiq will talk to you about that and I’ll get involved in that discussion as well. John Gastright, AACC Vice President, representing his company, Dyn-Corp International, and Michael Smith, Board Member, www.bayatfoundation.org – contact [email protected] - 703-399-6929 Afghan Symposium, 30 June 2009, Chapter 1/7 – page 2 representing his firm and many other individuals that are members of the Afghan American Chamber of Commerce. The Afghan Trusted Network in an age of Facebook and Twitter can be an exchange of information across disciplines, professions, sectors and organizations. It offers integration for often fragmented and isolated working environments. My main impression looking at the agenda for today is just how much positive energy and experience is gathered here. So much of the capacity here comes from people’s bottom-up initiative, and that is so necessary for greater success in an effort to help the Afghan people. Indeed donor government and transplanted governments from poor nations cannot succeed without such bottom up energy and skill, the kind we see today. We at the AACC are pleased that the Afghan Trusted Network has reached out to involve business and the private sector. The AACC is all about the ultimate example of bottom- up application of human energy; intellectual, emotional, physical, that is what goes into pursuing the entrepreneur’s dream of creating and growing a business that not only boosts the prospect of the leaders and those close, but also creates enumerable opportunities for others to fulfill their dreams. The private sector is really a collection of dreamers with energy and skill to start something from nothing and thus contribute mightily and sustainably to do employment in the goods and services needed by the people. Ladies and gentlemen, there’s no greater example of this phenomena and all that means to us as individuals and as a society than my good friend, Ehsan Bayat. Just think of the impact of Afghan Wireless on Afghanistan. Indeed, what we’re able to do here today is a result of that success. But even more important than that, even more important than his business success, is a characteristic that I’ve witnessed in him since the 8th grade. We’ve been high school friends, classmates, of the Esteqlal High School where the Ambassador went. The character of Ehsan Bayat is that he genuinely cares about friends, family or any other individual that he doesn’t even know. He always did and I think he always will. I have many examples of this caring but we will share that during the day possibly if we have enough time. Ehsan has reintroduced corporate business social responsibility to Afghanistan. And others are not only noticing but are following in his footsteps. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor and privilege to introduce the first AACC Person of the Year Award winner, my friend, Ehsan Bayat. (Ajmal Ghani, Afghan American Chamber of Commerce) Mr. Bayat Good morning, (I actually was told that my remarks were scheduled for the afternoon.) Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, thank you for participating today and for what you’re doing for Afghanistan. Today we’re taking action believing in progress in spite of difficult circumstances. Our actions today are important because of their short and long term impact. We do have the potential to strengthen the fabric of the Afghan society for the youth and future of Afghanistan. Our actions now can influence Afghanistan’s future. One way we can move forward in the midst of trying circumstances is to produce specific recommendations that can be individually and collectively built upon. Going forward we should collaborate to develop opportunities and engage the next generation of leaders in Afghanistan. Also, Afghanistan must continue to have a solid foundation routed in tradition. Therefore, we must reinforce www.bayatfoundation.org – contact [email protected] - 703-399-6929 Afghan Symposium, 30 June 2009, Chapter 1/7 – page 3 traditional culture and values of family and children. The Bayat Foundation also works with families to respond to their basic human needs for healthcare, food, and clothing. Through my companies; Afghan Wireless Communication Company, and Ariana Television and Radio Network, I leverage technology and abilities to reach Afghans not only in the Provinces but across the world. Together, we that have already gathered at this Afghan Symposium can leverage our expertise and continue building our personal and business networks to provide education, job and training and contribute to a safer and more peaceful Afghanistan built upon opportunity and prosperity. My hope is that we will make plans today to collaborate and help secure Afghanistan’s future to bring more opportunities to my people in homeland to facilitate their dreams coming true. If you can send a message of hope to the elders and the young of Afghanistan through our actions we will together take an important step. Thank you. Now it is my privilege and hope and honor to introduce His Excellency, Ambassador Said Jawad, Afghan Ambassador to the United States. Thank you. (Ehsan Bayat, The Bayat Foundation) HE Jawad Good morning, Mrs. and Mr. Bayat and their panelists, friends of Afghanistan. Thank you for providing me with this opportunity to be with you this morning. I’m honored to be among many distinguished friends of Afghanistan, and thank you very much for your hard work to help the Afghan people. The people and the government of Afghanistan are grateful for the friendship and support that you are getting both from the government of the United States and also from people of the United States. Your contribution of creating hope and jobs in Afghanistan is the best way of contributing to security in Afghanistan, stability in the region and security in the world. (R, Security) I would like particularly to recognize and convey my gratitude to Ehsan Bayat, my dear friend, who has brought us together here once again. He is truly becoming an icon in leading not only investment media and humanitarian work in Afghanistan, but also leading the way to bring a stronger network among people who are involved in different aspects of rebuilding Afghanistan. I also want to thank Mrs. Fatema Bayat, President and Executive Director of the Bayat Foundation, for her dedication and sincere commitment to help Afghanistan. Looking through the agenda of today’s symposium I see that you have developed a very comprehensive agenda with dedicated experts on Afghanistan both in the field of development and humanitarian assistance. And again I would like to congratulate the Bayat Foundation for convening this forum. Ladies and gentlemen, individual and philanthropic work and humanitarian work has deep roots in Afghanistan both through religious organizations, small community work, and individual donations. However, we need to further enhance and institutionalize humanitarian assistance work, especially charity work in Afghanistan, to channel resources and expertise to our country, (R, Charity) This institutional mechanism is very well developed in the U.S. Last night I briefly mentioned that the average Americans are giving three hundred and fifteen billion dollars per year to charitable www.bayatfoundation.org – contact [email protected] - 703-399-6929 Afghan Symposium, 30 June 2009, Chapter 1/7 – page 4 causes. The average 90% of Americans are giving donations to foundations or charitable causes, a tremendous amount of contribution unmatched not only in the rest of the world, even in Europe, the degree of the contribution. And that’s what makes the United States so beautiful, so unique in the world, that sense of giving and sharing.