India, Australia Join Hands to Train Afghan Bureaucrats

NEW DELHI: India has joined hands with Australia to train Afghan bureaucrats as it continues to help in capacity-building efforts in the war-torn country amid a peace deal by big powers with the Taliban.

The trilateral cooperation was launched this week with training sessions for Afghan mining ministry officials in Kolkata.

“Very pleased to open the training in Kolkata for officials from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum – great cooperation between Australia, India and Afghanistan!,” tweeted Andrew Ford, Australia’s Consul General in Kolkata.

This is India’s first such project with Australia for a third country. Earlier this year, Australia earmarked a sum for assisting projects in South Asia. A $ 25 million programme over four years, which will begin this year and focus on improving the quality of infrastructure and investment particularly in transport and energy sectors.

Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) has supported a short course on mining governance for Afghan civil servants in India the first phase of which took place from 14-24 January 2019 and the second phase which is taking place this week in Kolkata and Dhanbad.

Following India’s endorsement of the trilateral training proposal, which supports a priority recommendation of Australia’s India Economic Strategy to 2035, the course was delivered by the Indian School of Mines (ISM) and a consortium of Australian academic institutions. The training successfully provided Afghan officials with best practice in mining governance and showcased Australian and Indian expertise.

In the past, India and the US have assisted Afghan businesses to promote their products. Russia has expressed interest in collaborating with India for joint projects in Afghanistan. While India has no intentions to put boots on the ground in Afghanistan, its soft power and development aid, including support for cricket, has earned huge goodwill.

Mining in Afghanistan remains largely untapped in the absence of transport corridors and infrastructure and the threat of terrorism. The few major deals that have been signed, including the vast Mes Aynak copper project with China’s state-run China Metallurgical Group Corp., have so far remained largely inactive.

In April, Afghanistan launched tenders for natural resource projects as part of a global initiative to attract investments to its mineral sector, which has assets estimated to be worth $1 trillion. The tenders cover a wide range of commodities including oil and gas, gemstones, copper, gold and marble.

During the past year, India and China have jointly trained Afghan foreign service officers. ET was the first to report that the training would take place as the first initiative under Sino-Indian joint projects for the landlocked country.

India and China, as decided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the Wuhan Summit, hope to undertake joint projects in health, education and food security in Afghanistan, which are people-centric and non-controversial.

Source: ET

Image Courtesy: Dispatch