JOINTSTATEMENT

ADOPTED AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE

SECOND TRILATERAL SUMMIT HELD IN İSTANBUL AMONG THE PRESIDENTS OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN, THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN AND THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

His Excellency Hamid Karzai, the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and His Excellency Asif AliZardari, the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, visited İstanbul on 5 December 2008 at the invitation of His Excellency Abdullah Gül, the President of the Republic of Turkey.

The three Presidents, together with His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, held cordial and fruitful talks on regional and international issues, and expressed their political will to expand and strengthen the scope of their cooperation within the framework of the trilateral Ankara Process, initiated on 30 April 2007.

During the meeting, Presidents Karzai and Zardari, mindful of the common future shared by their people, the commonality of interest of their countries, expressed satisfaction on increasing contacts and continuingcooperation in all areas between the two brotherly countries and their respective democratically elected governments, and committed themselves to continue their bilateral political dialogue in a structured and comprehensive way.

The three Presidents:

Reiterated their pledge to cooperate towards promoting security, stability, peace, and economic development in the region, with reference to the Ankara Declaration of 30 April 2007, the Joint Press Release of the Joint Working Group of 6 July 2007 and the Joint Declaration of 30 October 2008;

Re-affirmed the need to respect, preserve and support unity, territorial integrity, and sovereignty of all countries in the region as well as the need to uphold principles of non-intervention and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States;

Expressed their determination to strengthen trilateral cooperation to confront the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations in an effective manner. They welcomed the decision of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan and Pakistan to develop a Joint Comprehensive Strategy for combating terrorism and strengthening bilateral cooperation;

Reiterated their full support and confidence to the Peace-Jirga and the Jirgagai as authentic, traditional and key processes for dialogue and enhanced cooperation between the two countries, and the promotion of peace in the region;

Expressed their support for the ongoing comprehensive process of constructive engagement between Afghanistan and Pakistan including security and counter-terrorism as well as initiatives taken by both sides to promote future perspectives for common development and regional and trans-regional economic/trade cooperation, including joint projects between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the energy, minerals, agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors, as well as to enhance physical connectivity, including road/rail links and communication links;

Welcoming the kind offer of Pakistan to host the next Regional Economic Cooperation Conference in Islamabad, expressed their appreciation for the progress achieved in the seventh meeting of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Economic Commission, held in Kabul on 25-26 November 2008, including deliberations on trade, economic coordination, transit trade, Pakistan’s assistance for reconstruction in Afghanistan, health, education and cooperation between businessmen of the two countries;

Mindful that security, peace and development are interlinked, and bearing in mind that sustainable development depends on fostering diversified local productive capacity, especially by motivating the private sector and increasing trade and investment, and that socio-economic development isessentialto bringing lasting stability, aware of the challenges posed by the global financial crisis;

Affirmed that the trilateral process would promote economic and trade cooperation between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey and that the three countries will work to promote regional/trans-regional development cooperation and noted in this context the importance of the role played by the public and private sector companiesand corporations;

Approved as a framework of cooperationthe attached recommendations finalized by the Joint Working Group during its meeting on 4 December 2008, including:

·continuation of structured and comprehensive dialogue at different levels;

·trilateral military cooperation, including military training;

·enhanced security cooperation in counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics;

·energy projects;

·transport corridors;

·establishment of organized industrial zones in Afghanistan and Pakistan, utilizing complementarities wherever possible;

·various socio-economic projects on education, health and vocational training;

Expressed their support for the İstanbul Forum mechanism, comprising the apex organizations of the private sectors of the three countries, and their valuable work in tandem with the trilateral process, as well as welcoming the convening of the Forum session on 4 December 2008.

The Presidents of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan expressed gratitude for the initiative of Turkey for hosting the Second Summit Meeting and agreed to hold further meetings in 2009.

İstanbul, 5 December 2008

Final