Washington - Ambassador Hamdullah Mohib hosted the “Friends of RECCA” inaugural meeting at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington DC. It was the first meeting of the Friends of RECCA as a part of the Implementation Phase of the Sixth Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA), which was held on September 3-4, 2015 in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Since 2005, when the first RECCA was held, the conference has been instrumental in engaging business leaders, senior government officials, scholars, and representatives from civil society and private sector—all of whom have played an important role in strengthening regional economic cooperation between Afghanistan and its regional neighbors.
The 2015 RECCA-VI held in Kabul last month expanded on the overarching theme “the Silk Road through Afghanistan.” It is a thematic vision that both depends on and contributes to stability within and around Afghanistan, which is located at the crossroads of the traditional East-West and North-South transport corridors of Central and South Asia.
During his welcoming remarks, Ambassador Mohib expressed his hope that the participants would reach a common understanding on how to best utilize the opportunities that exist within these regional partnerships for a successful implementation of RECCA VI.
The primary focus of the inaugural Friends of RECCA meeting was a presentation by the Director General of Economic Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Afghanistan, Mr. Wahidullah Waissi. Mr. Waissi, who was responsible for the organization of RECCA-VI in Kabul, spoke about the Implementation Phase of RECCA-VI during the meeting.
His presentation included a discussion of key institutional requirements that accompany the implementation phase, current and future projects on energy, transit and transport, infrastructure and business to business and trade cooperation and role of awareness to the importance of the RECCA.
The first Friends of RECCA meeting participants included ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps—from Azerbaijan, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan—Afghan and American scholars, Afghan journalists, and representatives from Asian Development Bank, USAID, and Department of Commerce.