Valerie Amos, UK Secretary of State for International Development, will today reiterate the UK's commitment to Afghanistan in a speech to the Afghan Development Forum. She will welcome the progress made by the Afghan Transitional Authority, in particular the progress made on Public Administration Reform and look forward to democratic elections in Afghanistan next year.
Valerie Amos, who will hold a meeting with Dr Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan Finance Minister, commented, "The progress made in Afghanistan over the last two years is impressive. Few would have thought two years ago that we would have come so far. Nevertheless there is still much more to be done to improve the security and economic development of the country and that is why the UK remains committed to assisting the Afghans to realise these goals".
She will also announce the disbursal of =A310 million to the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund for priorty National Development Programmes.
The UK pledged =A3200 million of development assistance over 5 years at the Tokyo Reconstruction Conference in January 2002. We will exceed that pledge. We have already provided =A3147 million since November 2001. The total UK Government bilateral assistance over the next 3 years will be around =A3300 million.
Notes to Editors
1. In the next three years the UK Government plans to contribute around =A3300 million to Afghanistan including =A3170 million from DFID, around =A320 million annually from the Global Conflict Prevention Pool (joint Ministry of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department For International Development pool), =A370 million on supporting the Afghan Counter-Narcotics Strategy. In additional, DFID provides approximately =A340 million per year to Afghanistan through multilateral contributions to the EC, World Bank and United Nations etc.
2. The UK currently leads a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Mazar-e-Sharif in the north of Afghanistan which is help stability and security in the region, helping to extend the Afghan Transitional Authority's authority and facilitating Security Sector Reform and the reconstruction effort. DFID has seconded a development adviser to the UK PRT and have allocated =A35 million for PRTs over 3 years.
3. Progress since November 2001 includes over 4.2 million children back at school, including over 30% girls. Polio has almost been eradicated and 9 million children have been vaccinated against measles. Major roads are being reconstructed. A new currency has been very successfully introduced.