U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman For Immediate Release November 20, 2001
Remarks By Under Secretary Of Treasury For International Affairs John B. Taylor, Under Secretary Of State For Economic,
Business And Agricultural Affairs Alan Larson Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Oshima, And Japanese Vice Minister Of
Finance Kurode In Closing Remarks At The Meeting On Afghan Reconstruction
November 20, 2001 Dean Acheson Auditorium U.S. Department of State Washington, D.C.
2:50 P.M. EST
UNDER SECRETARY LARSON: Good afternoon. We've just had an extraordinarily significant and interesting conference next
door. On short notice, we asked countries from all around the world to join us in having a discussion on the issue of
reconstruction assistance for Afghanistan.
There was a very rich debate and an action program that flowed out of this meeting that we'll be very busy implementing
in the days, weeks and months to come. One of the most important conclusions of the conference is to underscore the
central role of the United Nations, which is playing and will continue to play a vital role in Afghanistan. It is also
clear that the effort at reconstruction cannot be viewed separately from the process of political development.
There was a very clear understanding among all the participants that one of our top priorities is going to be to have
quick-hitting projects in Afghanistan that can help inspire hope and that can help the Afghan people understand that the
international community is ready and able to help them build better lives for themselves and their children.
Today, we agreed to establish a steering group that will provide political guidance to this effort and help mobilize
support from all around the world for the effort at reconstruction. Very significantly, four countries stepped forward
today to agree to play a leadership role as co-chairs of this steering group: Japan and the United States, which were
the co-chairs of this conference, as well as the European Union and Saudi Arabia. We're determined to have this be a
light and effective organization, one that will provide some real political momentum.
There was also a commitment on the part of the European Union to bring people together next month, to continue and
deepen this work. There was a very strong request from the conference that Japan be prepared to hold a ministerial-level
conference in January so that we could get commitments from countries to the task of reconstruction development in
Afghanistan. And as my Japanese colleague will say, the Japanese Government gave a very positive response to that
request.
I want to underscore, before turning the podium over to Deputy Foreign Minister Oshima, that the degree of common
feeling and likemindedness and the focus on very, very specific issues -- agriculture and repairing of roads, ensuring
shelter and things of that sort -- was evident throughout the session. This was a real roll-up-your-sleeves meeting, and
I think it augers well for the effort that lies ahead.
I'd like to invite Deputy Foreign Minister Oshima.
DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OSHIMA: Thank you very much. Thank you to all of you who are here.
As my friend and colleague Under Secretary Larson just mentioned, we had a very fruitful and successful meeting this
morning and this afternoon. Although this meeting was called at such short notice, there were very many participants,
indicating the importance of the governments who have assembled attached to this endeavor, which is a major endeavor and
a huge task ahead.
On the substance, I have not much to add to the very able quick summary that Alan Larson has just made. But I did want
to add one aspect that appeared throughout the whole meeting. And that was the importance of involving the Afghans
themselves in this effort to reconstruct this country, Afghanistan, after the conflict is over.
As to the process, as Alan Larson just mentioned, there was a strong call from the conference to have a succession of
meetings, and the Japanese Government have agreed to host a ministerial-level meeting of this conference on a larger
participation in the latter half of January next year.
Thank you very much.
UNDER SECRETARY TAYLOR: Thank you very much. A great deal of stress at this conference was placed both on humanitarian
efforts to help the Afghan people, as well as on economic reconstruction efforts, which will also aim to have a lasting
help to the Afghan people.
And in regard to both those items, there was a great deal of emphasis placed on how there is interaction between the
humanitarian effort, which is already under way, and the economic reconstruction, which will be continuing in the years
ahead.
There was a feeling that if we could make that connection clear, we could get results to the Afghan people in a more
timely way. For example, working on agriculture at the beginning, trying to have ways in which the seed, for example, to
begin to think about next year's crops, could already be brought into place in a very specific way.
Another example of how the humanitarian will feed into the reconstruction is in the area of education. Education has
been restricted dramatically in the last few years. We can help the Afghan people to begin with reconstructing schools,
bringing teachers, especially women teachers, back into the classrooms, and that will have, of course, an important
effect eventually on improving literacy rates, which are extraordinarily low right now, but in the short term, having
direct income effects so that the Afghan people have more money to spend to improve their living standards in the short
run.
This interaction between the humanitarian and economic construction was a great deal of discussion at the conference,
and I think it shows the direction where we're heading in the months ahead.
Thank you.
VICE MINISTER KURODE: Thank you. As prior speakers emphasized, we had a very good, useful, constructive discussion on
the rehabilitation and the reconstruction of the Afghan economy. Particularly in the context of reconstruction
discussion, the World Bank, UNDP and ADB contributed greatly so that we understood quite well about the situation in
Afghanistan, as well as the need to reconstruct, rehabilitate the Afghan economy.
In that context, we asked the World Bank, UNDP, and ADB to conduct urgently a comprehensive need assessment so that the
ministerial conference to be held in Japan should be informed about the need of assistance to Afghanistan.
We think that these institutions -- World Bank, UNDP, and ADB -- should develop and assess alternative approaches to
facilitate the connection between relief, recovery and reconstruction. And all participants recognize that the need
assessment would be increasingly comprehensive with time.
Thank you.
3:00 P.M. EST
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