Kabul, New Delhi ink MoU for Small Development Projects

KABUL and India on Saturday signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on five new projects under Small Development Program (SDP) funded by the government of India, a statement said. 

According to the statement released by the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Energy and Water and Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development of Afghanistan and the Embassy of India inked the MoU

Hukum Khan Habibi, the acting minister of economy, Eng. Ghulam Faruq Qazizada, the acting minister of energy and water and Mohammad Tariq Ismati, the acting minister of rural rehabilitation and development signed the MoU from the Afghan side whereas Amar Sinha, Indian ambassador to Kabul signed on behalf of the government of India.

Since 2002, India has committed $2 billion dollars to the socio-economic rebuilding of the Afghan state and society in accordance with the development priorities of the government and the people of Afghanistan.

The statement said that as part of India’s bilateral and demand-driven development partnership with Afghanistan, the Small Development Projects (SDP) scheme was launched in 2006 to address the socio-economic and development needs of rural communities in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Economy of Afghanistan was designated as the coordinating body for the scheme on the Afghan side.

It said that phases I and II of the SDP scheme designed for border districts of Afghanistan had an outlay of $20 million. In November 2012, India and Afghanistan signed an MoU earmarking $100 million for Phase III of the SDP scheme extending project assistance spread across all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. The projects are to be identified by provincial authorities, mainly the governor of the respective province, and the project proposal is prepared/fine-tuned by the relevant line Ministry, it concluded.

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