Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process was held in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on 14 June 2012 under the co-chair of Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and Mr. Zalmay Rassoul, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan.
Foreign Minister Mr. Davutoğlu, in his speech at the conference stated that whatever happens in Afghanistan affects the regional partners in one way or another due to our geographical, political and cultural proximity and shared destiny and therefore, contributing to peace and stability in Afghanistan is also in their interest as well as their responsibility. Mr. Davutoğlu underlined that time has come to speed-up the collective endeavours aimed at finding creative, comprehensive and practical solutions to regional issues, with Afghanistan at its core. He also said that the Istanbul Process, which aims to enhance regional cooperation in a result-oriented and practical framework, has already become an important milestone in this respect. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stressed that Turkey’s commitment to Afghanistan is for the long term and Turkey will always stand by its Afghan brothers and sisters.
Along with Turkey; Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, the Republic of China, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, also Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Iraq, Japan, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States as countries supporting the process, as well as the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Economic Cooperation Organization, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia attended the conference.
Turkey believes in the importance of regional cooperation for ensuring peace and stability in the region and for promoting Afghanistan as a self-sufficient and prosperous country. In this respect, Turkey pioneered the adoption of the “İstanbul Process” at the Istanbul Conference for Afghanistan hosted by Turkey on 2 November 2011.
