The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Afghanistan pledging conference eyes development goals for coming fours years, from 2021-24
A high-level pledging conference on Afghanistan has been confirmed at UN Geneva next week whose objectives include helping to contribute to a peaceful and sustainable future for the country’s people, participants announced on Friday.
The specific aim of event, which coincides with peace talks between the Government of Afghanistan and Taliban leaders in Qatar, is to determine shared development goals and commitments over the next three years for the Afghan government and the international community, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said.
"The 2020 Afghanistan Conference is taking place at a historic and critical moment, both for the Government of Afghanistan and our international development partners," said Naser Sidiqee, Director General of the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan, at a press conference in the Swiss city.
Co-hosted by the Governments of Afghanistan and Finland with the United Nations, more than 70 countries, international organizations and agencies are expected to take part, as well as civil society representatives.
Previous editions have taken place in 2016 in Brussels and Tokyo in 2012.
"We have been investing and we have been cooperating with Afghanistan well, in years,” said Janne Taalas, Finland’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan 2020. “And we have also made a significant contribution to the crisis management in Afghanistan."
The conference comes amid surging insecurity across Afganistan, including an attack on Kabul University earlier in the month that killed dozens of students that was reportedly claimed by ISIL extremists.
"At this critical time, the United Nations anticipates that conference will provide strong support to the people of Afghanistan," said Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan, ad interim.
"The decisions that will be taken in the next few days, we also view them as mutually reinforcing to the Afghanistan peace negotiations."
Participants are expected to engage in two days of discussions to pledge “financial support, a new development framework, a joint political declaration and a new aid architecture supporting Afghanistan’s development needs and priorities are the anticipated outcomes of the conference,” UNAMA said on its website.
“(Development assistance) has been significant and it has contributed quite significantly to the development of Afghanistan in different parts of the country,” said Mr. Sidiqee, from the Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan. “And we believe the continuation of the development assistance to Afghanistan will play a key role in stabilizing Afghanistan and also supporting the government on its journey to self-reliance."
Owing to restrictions on large meetings in a bid to restrict the transmission of COVID-19 in Switzerland, the Conference will take place virtually, coordinated by UN Geneva.
n Afghanistan ad interim
- Wide shot, flags, United Nations Office in Geneva.
- Close-up shot, building, United Nations Office in Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Naser Sidiqee, Director General of the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan: "The 2020 Afghanistan Conference is taking place at a historic and critical moment, both for the Government of Afghanistan and our international development partners."
- Wide shot, journalists at the news briefing.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Janne Taalas, Finland’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan 2020: " We have been investing and we have been cooperating with Afghanistan well, in years. And we have also made a significant contribution to the crisis management in Afghanistan."
- Wide shot, a journalist at the news briefing.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan, a.i.: "At this critical time, the United Nations anticipates that conference will provide strong support to the people of Afghanistan."
- Wide shot, a journalist at the news briefing.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan, a.i.: "The decisions that will be taken in the next few days, we also view them as mutually reinforcing to the Afghanistan peace negotiations."
- Wide shot, journalists at the news briefing.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Naser Sidiqee, Director General of the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan: "It has been significant and it has contributed quite significantly to the development of Afghanistan in different parts of the country. And we believe : the continuation of the development assistance to Afghanistan will play a key role in stabilizing Afghanistan and also supporting the government on its journey to self-reliance."
- Wide shot, news briefing.
- Wide shot, news briefing.
- Wide shot, journalists at the news briefing.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
The past two months of intensifying Israeli bombardment in Lebanon have been the “deadliest and most devastating” in decades as communities uprooted from the front line have continued to flee across the border to Syria, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
2
1
2
Edited News | UNOG
“State of Silence”: Diego Luna brings the fight to protect the press to the UN in Geneva
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna has brought his fight to protect journalists all the way to the United Nations, in Geneva. Together with documentary director Santiago Masa, he is putting a spotlight on the silencing of investigative journalism in his country, and on the incredibly high price that many journalist have to pay in pursuit of truth.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Today marks the grim milestone of 1,000 days since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale armed attack on Ukraine. Our Office has verified that at least 12,162 civilians have been killed since 24 February 2022, among them 659 children. At least another 26,919 civilians have been injured,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurance told the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
With COP29 in Baku now in its second - and final - week, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has reiterated his call for urgent human rights-based climate action.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL , UNICEF , WHO
Lebanon: Increased violence along Blue Line and ‘horrific new normal’ for children
In southern Lebanon, peacekeepers have witnessed “shocking” destruction of villages along the Blue Line and ever-deeper Israeli ground incursions, while the situation of children across the country is becoming increasingly desperate, the UN said on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, confirmed on Monday that a large convoy of humanitarian aid was looted inside Gaza at the weekend, amid a near-total a breakdown in law and order and harassment of the agency’s staff by Israeli soldiers.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
In the nearly 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been killed, the country’s energy infrastructure is on the brink and drones terrify communities on the front line, the UN’s top aid official in the country said on Friday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna took a break from the big screen on Thursday to highlight the dangers faced by journalists in his country and beyond, condemning murders of reporters everywhere as “a scandal”.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: ‘People are losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA
Besieged northern Gaza is a place of dead bodies lying in the streets and hospitals running out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence & Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Sudan’s displaced have endured “unimaginable suffering” in their search for shelter from the country’s ongoing war, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘Exceptional achievement’: Humanitarians reach over 105,000 with polio vaccine in north Gaza
Despite ongoing attacks and access challenges, humanitarians have managed to inoculate over 105,000 children in north Gaza with the second and final dose of the oral polio vaccine, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.