Statement by H.E. Mr. Tsuneo Nishida
Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations
At the Security Council Debate on the Situation in Afghanistan
20 March 2012
Mr. President,
I thank Special Representative Kubis for his comprehensive and informative briefing. I also thank Ambassador Tanin for his statement.
Japan highly appreciates the comprehensive review of UNAMA’s mandate conducted by the Secretary General in accordance with resolution 1974. Based on the review, it is critically important that UNAMA continues to play an appropriate role in support of Afghanistan’s leadership and ownership, together with the international community towards building a promising future of Afghanistan.
Mr. President,
While we welcome the recent report of the Secretary General describing that, overall, the second tranche of the transition progressed as planned, we also witnessed some shocking incidents very recently. We must not repeat such incidents and stop the cycle of violence. We should also remind ourselves that it is incumbent on both Afghanistan and the international partners to tackle common challenges of improving security in Afghanistan and also to consolidate the Afghan-led political process.
In this regard, Japan continues to provide its assistance in such areas as security to strengthen the capacity of Afghan police, and the reintegration process. Last month, Japan decided to provide assistance amounting to 585 million US dollars which includes 231 million dollars for police assistance, and 5 million dollars for promoting reintegration. Japan welcomes that 3,825 ex-combatants have been enrolled formally in the APRP as described in the SG report.
Mr. President,
Building on the Bonn and the Istanbul Conferences last year, we are set to make this year even more fruitful. There will be the NATO Summit in Chicago focusing on security issues in May, the first follow-up on the Istanbul Conference focusing on regional cooperation in June, and the Tokyo Conference in July. These conferences will be the best occasions to discuss the future of the country.
Notably, the Tokyo Conference, co-hosted by Japan and Afghanistan, is expected to be an occasion to build a solid foundation towards Afghanistan’s sustainable economic development through the Transition period and beyond, based on the mutual commitments between the international community and Afghanistan made in the Bonn Conference Conclusions, aiming at prioritization of the National Priority Programmes and providing concrete assistance within the prioritized Programmes, as well as promoting regional economic cooperation.
At the same time, in order to conduct meaningful discussions and produce tangible outcomes through the Conference, it is expected for the Afghan side to make its utmost efforts to tackle issues of governance such as corruption, and show concrete improvements prior to the Tokyo Conference.
In this regard, we welcome that the Afghan government organized just recently a forum to discuss governance. It is indispensable that our efforts maintain a long-term perspective to establish good governance in the country. We commend UNAMA’s proactive role to facilitate our discussions in this area.
Mr. President,
UNAMA continues to play an important role and Japan supports the extension of UNAMA’s mandate in accordance with the Security Council resolution scheduled to be adopted soon. In order to make the Tokyo Conference successful, Japan is determined to exert its utmost efforts and cooperate with Afghanistan, international partners, and UNAMA.
In conclusion, we would like to once again express our sincere appreciation for the dedication of the SRSG Kubis, and reiterate our commitment to support UNAMA’s efforts together with SRSG Kubis and all the men and women of UNAMA who have demonstrated deep commitment to this difficult mission.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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