Afghan Minister of Urban development asks Iran to share experiences

In this meeting on Saturday, the two top officials conferred on mutual cooperation in housing construction and urban development, and the Afghan side asked Iran to share experiences in such fields.

Naderi is now in Tehran to meet with Iranian societies and companies which are active in housing sector and plans to visit some major Iranian accomplished and under-construction projects.

In April, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani insisted on opening a new chapter in the relations with Iran to study the problems separately and provide solutions for them.

“The path lying ahead of us includes taking the opportunities for mutual and multilateral cooperation and turning the region from a danger zone into an area of peace and stability,” Ashraf Ghani said, addressing a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in Tehran.

President Ashraf Ghani reiterated that Afghanistan is facing the serious threat of terrorism, and regretting that violence and terrorism is taking daily toll in his nation.

Also speaking at the same press conference in Tehran, Iranian President Rouhani announced that Tehran and Kabul agreed to launch intelligence and operational cooperation in their fight against terrorism and drug trafficking.

“In our talks we agreed on intelligence and operational cooperation between Iran and Afghanistan in fighting terrorism and drug trafficking along the borders,” President Rouhani said.

“One of the topics that we followed up in our meeting was security and anti-drug campaign; the problem with narcotics is that its production increases every year and all of us should try to curb and reduce drug production as a first step and then end the problem of narcotics in the region,” he added.

Noting the two states’ plan for joint anti-terrorism and anti-drug campaign, Iranian President said the two countries need to have closer contacts and coordination and launch joint operations against drug trafficking.

The Iranian president said that Afghanistan needs to work out alternative farming plans to replace poppy cultivation, and said, “Our agricultural jihad ministry is ready to extend help in this regard because there are sufficient lands and water in Afghanistan and Afghans have been hard-working people throughout history.”

He referred to the status quo in Iran-Afghanistan cooperation, and hoped that the two nations could maintain and further expand their extensive cooperation in future.