Speech of H.E Dr. Abdul Basir Anwar, Minister of Justice of Afghanistan, in Inter-ministerial Trust Building Roundtable to Enable International Trade

waheed
Wed, Aug 21 2019 4:46 AM
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August 07, 2019

Singapore

Honorable and Distinguished Heads of Delegations, Country Representatives, Ladies and Gentlemen!

 

Let me to express my heartfelt appreciations to His Excellency Mr. K. Shanmugam, Ministers and other facilitator of this splendid gathering.

It is my pleasure to participate and speak in the conference on trust building to enable the International Trade, on behalf of the government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Dear Honorable Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen!

 

I would like to talk briefly on four essential points that constitute the agenda of this roundtable:

1. Trust Building

One of the challenges of the contemporary world is, lack of trust amongst states, organizations and other persons in various fields, particularly, in the international trade arenas. Lack of the required trust, results into lack of cooperation and mutual relationship amongst the countries and persons. The government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, for the purpose of ensuring stability and economic prosperity through trust building, has taken various actions. Fortunately, during the last few years this country, apart from Law on International Treaties and Conventions, has accepted and processed a number of 23 documents related to the World Trade Organization. This shows the sincere commitment of Afghanistan to comply with the international standards, and on the other hand, it provides opportunity to obtain the trust of the member states to the World Trade Organization.

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The Constitution of Afghanistan, in Article (7), on how to build trust in acquiring the support for developments, obligates the government to comply with the UN Charter, International Treaties, which Afghanistan has accession to, and the World Declaration of Human Rights. Article (10) of the Constitution states, “The state shall encourage , protect as well as ensure the safety of capital investment and private enterprises in accordance with the provisions of law and market economy”. Our constitution in Article (57) in order to build trust, guarantees the rights and freedom of foreign nationals in the country. For the purpose of attaining the trust of people and other institutions, the government of Afghanistan has processed a number of legislative documents such as Law on Combat against Corruption, Law on Access to Information, Law on Protection of Whistle Blowers of Corruption. And important of all, the Law of Commercial Arbitration and the Law on Commercial Mediation, that has been drafted and adopted on the basis of numerous international treaties, which Afghanistan has concluded with different countries.

 

2.  Importance of Multilateralism and International Rule of Law

 

Multilateralism not only avoids overshadowing the sovereignty of countries, but also provides opportunities of the joint combat against the preventive challenges of the economic and social growth of counties. Therefore, as mentioned earlier, Afghanistan so far, besides other legislative documents, has scrutinized 23 international conventions, agreements and treaties, and has published in the official gazette. This illustrates that the government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in fulfilling its obligations for promoting and expanding cooperation with the international community in various fields, has taken practical and effectives steps. Concluding such agreements with the world community are not only rendering useful and effective outcomes to Afghanistan, but other countries, too, benefit from them.

 

For attaining the trust and attention of the international community, Afghanistan has always participated in the international programs and conferences, particularly, at the high ranking level, and has taken the required and effective measures to ensure justice and the rule of law, compatible with the world standards. Among those measures, active participation in the Tashkent Conference, titled Law Spring, Hague Conference on Equal Access to Justice on Sustainable Development Goals, are to name a few. The government of Afghanistan, on how to bring the legal needs of individuals to the attention of the World Justice and Judicial Systems, and also, for the purpose of improving the quality justice services, and providing opportunities of access to justice and the rule of law, and for the economic growth of the country and eradicating injustice, and providing appropriate opportunities for investment, has enacted laws relevant to the World Trade Organization, such as Law on Supporting the Rights of Consumers, Law of Procurement, Law on National Standards and the Law of Customs.

 

3. Strengthening the Legal Underpinnings of International Trade

 

As in the lack of effective legal structures, we cannot eradicate the prevailing challenges in the justice and judicial sector, and creating inclusive stability in the trade transactions among the countries. In the absence of the required legal infrastructures, too, resolving of trade related disputes in the outer boundaries or beyond the territories of a country, would not be possible. Afghanistan, for the purpose of strengthening these underpinnings, has taken significant steps; among them the Law on Supporting Private Investment and the Law on Private and Public Partnerships, could be mentioned. With drafting laws and taking measure for strengthening infrastructures in cooperation with the world community and the partner countries, we expect the trade related activities would expand, and each country would take necessary measures in the light of their national interests.

 

4.  The Singapore Convention

The Singapore Convention as an important and key instrument, by playing a connecting role in the international trade affairs among the member states, strengthen their solidarity. The member states of this convention, on basis of consensus they forge, would resolve their disputes through the third party. I am sure that with the enforcement and implementation of the provisions of the Singapore Convention, apart from strengthening relations among the countries in area of trade, there would be more opportunities for investments in Afghanistan. In our country, fortunately, in the field of public services projects, construction of roads, dams and establishment of the energy plants, there are plenty of working opportunities in the form of investment and the private and public participation. Exploration and extraction of mines could be important economic projects that open the opportunities of foreign investments, and availing this opportunity, the international investors would be able to expand their trade activities, without any concern from the Afghan courts. In case of facing with any dispute, it would be resolved on the light of the provisions of this convention.

 

Thank You for Your Attention

 

Have Nice Times.

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