ADB TA Project Asian Development Bank Technical Assistance Project on Regional Cooperation Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Afghanistan |
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan intends to make regional cooperation a central pillar of the National Development Strategy and urged development partners in identifying priorities for regional cooperation projects. The Government requested Asian Development Bank (ADB) technical assistance (TA) in developing regional cooperation to realize the country's potential as a “land bridge” between Central Asia, South Asia and the West Asian region. ADB undertook a fact-finding mission from 22 to 29 October 2005 and reached an understanding with the Government on the goals, purpose, scope, implementation arrangements, cost, financing agreements, and terms of reference of the TA. Subsequently the project was approved on 22 December 2005. It was agreed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be the Executive agency of the TA. Due to some unavoidable circumstances, there was some delay in implementation of the project.
The purpose of the TA is to strengthen the capacity for regional cooperation within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan so that it can assume a greater role and responsibilities in planning, implementing, and coordinating regional cooperation activities with the rest of the Government.
The major activities of the project include
-
assessing capacity and developing a plan;
- helping institutionalizing regional cooperation;
- Identifying and providing training for officials involved in regional cooperation, both within and outside the country.
- The Kabul and Delhi conferences have already identified key areas for promotion of regional cooperation and the TA will help establishing technical working groups to pursue those goals.
Further details of the project are available at the following links:
ADB Project Information Documents
ADB Technical Assistance Report (Project No. 39651, December 2005)
Project Team
Dr Gulshan Sachdeva joined the project as Team Leader in December 2006. His expertise includes transition economies, European economic integration, regional economic cooperation and Indian Northeast. He is on leave from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) New Delhi, where he holds a permanent position of Associate Professor at the prestigious School of International Studies . Earlier he was also Director, Europe Area Studies Programme. He holds Ph.D in Economic Science from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Detailed CV can be found at http://www.jnu.ac.in/faculty/gsachdeva/
Contact: 93(0) 798413092 Email: gulshan@mail.jnu.ac.in
Domestic Consultant:
Mr. Behrooz Mohaqeq Contact: 93(0)70540101 Email: behrooz@mfa.gov.af
Dr Gulshan Sachdeva joined the project as Team Leader in December 2006. His expertise includes transition economies, European economic integration, regional economic cooperation and Indian Northeast. He is on leave from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) New Delhi, where he holds a permanent position of Associate Professor at the prestigious School of International Studies . Earlier he was also Director, Europe Area Studies Programme. He holds Ph.D in Economic Science from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Detailed CV can be found at http://www.jnu.ac.in/faculty/gsachdeva/
Contact: 93(0) 798413092 Email: gulshan@mail.jnu.ac.in
Domestic Consultant:
Mr. Behrooz Mohaqeq Contact: 93(0)70540101 Email: behrooz@mfa.gov.af