Ashraf Ghani meets Turkish PM in Kabul

KABUL: (AIP): Afghan President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah met Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yildirim here on Sunday (April 08).

Both the sides discussed various key issues, including security, economic cooperation, war on terrorism, peace process, education, cultural norms and bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Turkey.

According to a presidential office press release available with Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), President Ghani termed Turkey as a good friend of Afghanistan and said both the country had joint religious and cultural norms for years.

He lauded Turkey for its cooperation with Afghanistan in security, economy, education, training of police and land administration.

On the occasion, Turkish prime minister lauded the friendly relations between Afghanistan and Turkey and said his country would continue assistance with Kabul.

Vowing to support the peace process led and owned by the Afghan people, the Turkish prime minister said they would stand by the people and government of Afghanistan.

Separately, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim met Afghan Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah. They discussed various key issues including security, economy, politics and education.

Dr Abdullah lauded Turkey for its cooperation with the civil and military sectors of Afghanistan over the past several years. He demanded of the government of Turkey to further increase assistance with Kabul.

He said the Afghan government hoped that Turkey would motivate its investors to make investment in Afghanistan.

He went on to say that the illegal Afghan migrants living in Turkey should return to Afghanistan after being pointed out by responsible Afghan agencies. Afghanistan was the most suitable place for them, he observed.

He said the issue of Afghanistan’s first deputy president General Abdul Rashid Dostam should be addressed so that everyone could live peacefully with others in their country.

He said the government of Turkey supported the peace proposal of the Afghan government given to Taliban.

Turkey wanted improvement of relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said. Turkey was ready to host trilateral talks between the three countries.

Lauding the efforts of Afghan government for the restoration of peace, he hoped that Taliban would utilize the recent opportunity of peace.

He invited Dr Abdullah to attend a bilateral economic commission conference hosted by Turkey in the month of May. Dr Abdullah accepted his invitation.