The Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) between the two sides, inter alia, provides for assistance to help rebuild Afghanistan’s infrastructure and institutions, education and technical assistance to re-build indigenous Afghan capacity in different areas, encouraging investment in Afghanistan’s natural resources, providing duty free access to the Indian market for Afghanistan’s exports support for an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned, broad-based and inclusive process of peace and reconciliation, and advocating the need for a sustained and long-term commitment to Afghanistan by the global community. India would allocate a sum of United States dollars 1 billion.
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Announcing the visit, the External Affairs Ministry said the discussions between Ghani and Modi will cover a wide range of “matters of mutual interest”.
The Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar, Finance Minister Iklil Hakimi, Economy Minister Abdul Satar Murad, Transport Minister Mohammadullah Batash, Special Presidential Envoy Nader Naderi, and Presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri are accompanying President Ghani during the visit.
India offered a fresh $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan for building capacity in education, health, agriculture, energy and infrastructure, said a joint statement by the two sides.
The Prime Minister conveyed to the President that India would continue to engage with the worldwide community to assist the Government of Afghanistan in all possible ways. To this end, the Prime Minister offered that, as a close neighbour and friend of Afghanistan and its people, India would allocate a sum of Dollars 1 billion. They also signed an extradition treaty.
Stepping up bilateral security cooperation, India and Afghanistan on Wednesday asked for an end to sponsorship of “all forms of terrorism” and signed an Extradition Treaty to facilitate exchange of wanted terrorists and criminals. This agreement was reached in May 2016 with an aim of creating a network of regional connectivity around Iran’s Chahbahar port.
Both leaders welcomed intensification in the interaction involving India and Afghanistan with regional and other countries and global organisations to foster peace, stability and development in Afghanistan.
In this context, the leaders underscored the significance of the Amritsar Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process (HoA) on the forthcoming 4 December, as well as the Brussels Conference on 5 October.
The Prime Minister invited the President to grace the inauguration of the Amritsar Ministerial.
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The Afghan President would also be addressing at India’s defence think tank Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) where he is scheduled to interact with military experts.
