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Mr. President,

Lithuania aligns itself with the statement made by Belgium on behalf of the European Union. This debate gives us a good opportunity to renew the international community‘s message of solidarity and support for the Afghan people on their path towards peace, security, and democracy.

Lithuania looks forward to the unanimous adoption of draft resolution A/65/L.9 in front of us, and in addition to the EU‘s statement would like to underline the following. Lithuania welcomed the decision by UNSC in October this year to extend the authorization of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan for one year. In our view, the presence of the international community and ISAF in particular in Afghanistan is essential for supporting the efforts of Afghan people in building a stable and secure Afghanistan.  Implementation of development projects and administrative capacity building are impossible without stabilization of the security situation in Afghanistan.

Lithuania welcomes the decisions of the London and Kabul Conferences which set a clear agenda and agreed criteria for the transition to full responsibility by the Afghan people. The political will of the Afghan President and the Government to meet the commitments undertaken on reforming the country is highly important.

The recent parliamentary elections showed the potential of the Government to take responsibility for the administration of the country. In this context of undergoing transformation, the UN and its agencies must continue to offer all necessary support and assistance, which will be even more important as the process of transition to Afghan security lead will start next year.

An assessment of the situation shows the enormity of the tasks ahead. Dealing adequately with the tasks of improving overall security, implementing development projects tailored for local needs, building local capabilities, improving governance and administration, and fighting corruption, however, demand that continuous and balanced attention should be given to all the provinces or else our gains in some areas risk to be undercut by lack of progress or even regression in others.

We see it ourselves in the Ghor province where we have been leading a PRT since 2005 that the lack of attention to the province’s real needs on the part of central government creates tensions within local society and between local government and local people. We therefore would like to see UNAMA to more vigorously encourage the Afghan Government to concentrate not only on national programmes but to be more  active in the regions, leaving no forgotten pockets on the map of the country. 

Through its 23 field offices, UNAMA has proven to be an invaluable support to the Afghan Government in its efforts to improve security, governance and economic development across the country. We believe that manning the field offices with additional numbers of dedicated expert advisers would be strongly welcomed by local authorities as well as by representatives of the international community on the ground. Enhanced UNAMA presence in the provinces would undoubtedly benefit the Afghan people and help the authorities to better prepare for taking over full responsibility for the country.

Let me also stress the need to combine and coordinate the work undertaken by different countries and international organizations in Afghanistan. Closer cooperation between the UN, OSCE and other international organizations as well as regional players, including Afghanistan’s neighbours would benefit the people of Afghanistan. Building regional and global consensus on the transformation of Afghanistan should be a key guideline for further UN actions.

For Lithuania, who will assume OSCE chairmanship in 2011, regional dimension is highly pertinent. We are currently considering how we can enhance OCSE role in Central Asia, including joint OSCE projects and initiatives on border management and travel documents security in the region bordering with Afghanistan.

Development cooperation is a powerful instrument in helping to build administrative capacities and to develop local economy and civil society. We believe there is room to further improve coordination and cooperation among donor countries. On our part, we are happy to be jointly working on development cooperation projects in Ghor province with our partners from Japan, US, Greece and others.

In this context let me remind you that Lithuania will  hold a development cooperation ministerial conference „Road to Successful Transition in Afghanistan, Province by Province“, which  will take place on 12 November 2010 in Vilnius. The Conference will focus on the development cooperation potential as an instrument for the implementation of transition process. We hope that this conference will help to contribute to the success of implementing the goals and objectives of Afghanistan’s transition to a peaceful, secure and democratic development.

Thank you.