Heart of Asia Conference requires multi dimensional cooperation: Afghan Economics Minister

Amritsar [Punjab], Dec. 3 (ANI): Afghanistan Economics Minister Abdul Sattar Murad, who is attending the Heart of Asia Conference, said today that the expectation from this conference is to workout multi dimensional cooperation between the participating countries. "We will address the developmental issue as well as the security issue. Security issue & developmental issue are two sides of same coin. Therefore if we want security and want the people to be cooperative & become quite then the countries must attend to their needs," Murad told ANI. Stating that security will have an impact on development, he said that this could be achieved through cooperation, development & security. Asserting that terrorism is playing havoc with the lives of people in the region, Murad said that it has slowed the development work. "The countries have to come up with a verdict on terrorism," he said while responding to a question. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived here on Saturday evening to inaugurate the 'Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process' conference, visited the Golden Temple and also served 'langar' to the devotees. He was also accompanied by Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani at the temple. Prime Minister Modi and President Ghani will jointly inaugurate the ministerial deliberations of the conference, which will see over 40 foreign ministers and dignitaries of 14 participating countries on Sunday. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz also arrived here to partake in the conference. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates are part of the Heart of Asia initiative launched in 2011 for encouraging economic and security cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbours for dealing with the common problems of terrorism, extremism and poverty. The process is supported by 17 other predominantly Western countries and 12 international organisations, which are also sending senior representatives. (ANI)