Saturday, April 27, 2013

How Afghanisthan became "Heart of Asia"?

    Afghanistan is a landlocked country which shares border with India, Pakistan, China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.



Afghanistan is considered as a volatile state due to its instability caused by various terrorist groups. A weak Afghanistan government may not be able to contain the terrorist activities that happens on its soil. So, the neighboring countries comes to its help and development. With this view some western powers along with neighbors of Afghanistan help a conference on Istanbul (Turkey) on 2011. This is also known as "Istanbul conference".

How the name came?
    In the "Istanbul conference", Afghanistan was recognized as the "Heart of Asia" and the conference expressed its support for Afghanistan led peace and reconstruction process. 

The members of the "Heart of Asia" group were,  Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Iran, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The observers are: France, Canada, the EU, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Spain, Norway, the UK, the US and the UN.

The phrase "Heart of Asia" was taken from a poem written by Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan.

What is "Heart of Asia" Ministerial Conference?
    This conference was convened on June 2012 as a follow-up meet for the "Istanbul process". 

The second meet of "Heart of Asia" Ministerial Conference was held recently (April 2013). This meet was more about, "After withdrawal of USA from Afghanistan, how our group can help the peace and reconstruction process in Afghan".

Want to know more click here (official site of that conference)



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