NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan and Italian Ambassador meet Herat authorities.

Ambassador Mark Sedwill, NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan and Claudio Glaentzer, Italian Ambassador in Kabul, along with Major General Claudio Mora (ISAF’s DCOS Stability) visited Camp Arena – home to ISAF Regional Command West – and held a meeting with the main local Authorities, focusing on three NATO and International Community’s priorities: the unchanged commitment to work with Afghan Government to bring stability and security to the Afghan people, the main effort in building-up of the Afghan National Security Forces and the successful conduct of the International Conference on Afghanistan, scheduled for July 20 in Kabul.

Together with the political leaders and ISAF representatives, the Deputy Governor of Herat Mr Asalludin Jami, the General Prosecutor Maria Bashir and the Regional leaders of Afghan National Security Forces attended the meeting. During the press conference – taken later at the Italian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in Herat – the Alliance’s political leader speaking about the International Conference in Kabul said that it is “part of a larger transition effort toward Afghan leadership and responsibility, aimed at gain the momentum to create a more effective framework for the delivery of public services by the Government of Afghanistan with international support The Afghan people should have no doubts of our commitment to build a stable Afghanistan and a safer region”. The Italian Ambassador closed the event announcing that “several Italian companies are very interested in an investment policy in the western region of Afghanistan, especially in the fields of the marble quarrying and agribusiness, with significant impact on the local population employment and economic development of the entire region”.