NEW DELHI: Participant nations at the second regional economic cooperation conference on Afghanistan agreed on Sunday that "work will be accelerated" on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline to develop a "technically and commercially viable project."

A New Delhi "declaration" issued at the end of the two-day conference said the regional countries would work towards concluding or broadening existing preferential trading agreements, including preferential tariffs for Afghanistan.

The countries would also work towards revising and updating the existing bilateral, trilateral and multilateral trade and transit conventions and agreements, select the most promising inter-regional routes, and prioritise investments accordingly.

"Afghanistan's development will continue to remain a central factor in assuring the growth, stability and prosperity of the region. Countries of the region will take practical steps in adopting the necessary policies in this direction," the declaration stated.

Information sharing

The participant nations also agreed that there would be "better information sharing," via prioritisation of issues, among themselves and regional organisations to avoid duplication of efforts.

They agreed that the current conditions in Afghanistan, despite security and other constraints, still represented a good opportunity to improve the welfare of the people.

According to the declaration, peace and stability in the region was dependent in large measure on the progress made in stabilising the security situation in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Addressing a joint press conference, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had agreed to set up soon a Centre for Regional Cooperation in Kabul to pursue specific initiatives for regional development.

Mr. Mukherjee made it clear that India refused to "succumb" to the pressures mounted by the Taliban to make New Delhi pull out its personnel, engaged in reconstruction work, from Afghanistan. "Their [Taliban] objective is to make India withdraw."

Dr. Spanta said the International Security Assistance Force and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation were ready to continue with their commitments to Afghanistan, and there was no sign that their military personnel were planning to leave.

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