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On 12 June Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas took part in the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan in Paris and urged the Government of the country and international donors to pay more attention to Ghor and similar provinces.

“The death of Lithuanian soldier in Chagcharan reminds that so-called “safe” provinces also require support. We hope that Afghan Government will take the initiative to concentrate the efforts of the international donors in such provinces as Ghor,” P. Vaitiekūnas said.

At the Conference the representatives of Afghan Government and international donors announced about the start of implementation of five-year Afghanistan National Development Strategy and defined their contribution.

Lithuania leads the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Ghor and since 2006 has allocated more than 10 million litas (about 3 million Euro) is support of civilian projects in this province.

During the Conference Minister P. Vaitiekūnas met Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Director of Saudi Arabia Development Fund Yousef Albassam and discussed possible contribution of these countries in building of the road Herat-Chagcharan-Kabul joining Ghor with neighbour provinces. This road is one of the principal infrastructure projects in Ghor, the success of which would determine the development of not only Ghor province but whole Western Afghanistan.