Statement by Mr. Wahidullah Waissi Director-General of Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan At The First Session of the Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee for the Second United Nations Conference on LLDCs New York, 12 June 2014 Co-Chairs, Excellencies, Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen: I would like to thank you for giving me the chance to speak on behalf of Afghanistan government and my delegation at this preparatory session. We believe that overcoming the challenge of landlockness is very much reliant on the spirit of partnership and cooperation, in particular between landlocked and transit developing countries, which are crucial towards achieving our socio-economic development objectives. Towards building and enhancing genuine partnerships for overcoming the impacts of landlockness, regional cooperation initiatives have been crucial for bilateral and multilateral collaboration. Regional Cooperation has provided opportunities to optimally utilize the resources of the region for the benefit of neighboring countries, brings down barriers and creates borders with human face. Afghanistan has been part of many regional and sub-regional cooperation initiatives, programs and processes in Central and South Asia, Caucasus and Middle-East and has itself initiated three main processes in the region, Good Neighborly Cooperation in 2002, Regional Economic Cooperation Conference for Afghanistan in 2005, and the Heart of Asia Regional Security and Cooperation for a Secure and Stable Afghanistan and introducing Confidence Building Measures in 2011. All these three initiatives are in operation and contribute in better connectivity among the entire region. The Heart of Asia, which is one of our region's serious processes today, aiming to enhance stability and regional cooperation between Afghanistan and 15 participating countries, among them 6 are Landlocked Countries. There are 21 confidence-building measures (CBMs) under the !1 Istanbul process with economic nature (for example, trade, transport infrastructure, energy, water management, agriculture, and private investment). For each of these priority CBMs, a participant country has the leading role. Afghanistan as an old and modern silk road passage, by availing its unique geographic position is now transforming from a landlocked to a land-linked country by connecting energy rich Central Asia to the energy deficient South Asia. There are a number of sub-regional transit, transport and energy projects under development via Afghanistan, such as Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, CASA 1000 for electricity supply from Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a trilateral agreement on railway project between Tajikistan-Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, which has been signed between the three neighboring countries, The East-West Corridor to Connect Istanbul to Islamabad, and the Regional Fiber Optic Project connecting Central Asia through Afghanistan to the rest of the world. Foreign trade between Afghanistan and its neighbors is very important and can contribute to economic growth and jobs creation even if long distance trade transiting through Afghanistan and neighbors takes longer to develop. Despite signing the new Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit- Trade Agreement (APTTA) in July 2010, Afghanistan seeks alternative transit routes to have access to seaports, inter alia through Chabahar in Iran, through Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan- Georgia to access the Black sea, and through Tajikistan to Chinese markets. Afghanistan has recently joined the Cross-border Transport Agreement of Asian Development Bank CAREC program. This will enhance transport and transit facilitation among Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and rest of the CAREC region in Central Asia. Such models could be encouraged and maintained. Membership of Afghanistan to the Transport Corridor of Europe- Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) is one of our priorities that require support of all participating countries. Co-Chairs: After decades, the reactivation of Afghanistan in TIR convention has recently been completed and TIR system was officially launched in Afghanistan on 4th September 2013. Afghanistan has received the International Railroad Union membership and now seeking its membership for railroad cooperation through OSJD. On the other hand, our membership to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UN-CLOS) is under consideration within the government, !2 aiming to benefit from the fundamental rights, including freedom of transit under the framework of the convention. Substantial progress has been achieved in the accession process of Afghanistan to the World Trade Organization and the government of Afghanistan is willing to conclude this process by the end of 2014. We will be the third country after Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the Central Asian region to have WTO membership, while other neighboring landlocked countries, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, are also considering their membership with WTO. Therefore, Afghanistan supports the suggested recommendations of the High-Level Workshop on WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation and its Implications for LLDCs, organized early June 2014 in Ulaanbaatar. Ladies and Gentlemen: Honorable Minister Mukanga of Zambia has shared the challenges and priorities of the LLDC nations. While we fully support those points, we see more and greater opportunities through more and greater regional economic integration and cooperation in order to develop regional infrastructure networks, enhance competiveness, increase imports and exports and maximize benefits from trade facilitation and normalizations. We hope that the LLDC Group with support of other international partners turn those priorities into reality through developing effective frameworks and necessary measures. I thank you. !3 .