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Foreign Minister Steinmeier visits Afghanistan
On July 23, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in the city of Herat, in western Afghanistan, at the start of a four-day visit. Herat is one of the country's traditional cultural centres. A safe drinking-water supply has been created in the city with German assistance for around half a million people. Germany has also long been committed to restoring the historic city centre, and there are close links with Herat's university. Minister Steinmeier will hand over the drinking-water project infrastructure to the Afghan side and be briefed on the progress of the restoration work in the historic city centre. Talks are also planned with local leaders and representatives of civil society. At Herat University Steinmeier will take part in a discussion with students. Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier's third visit to Afghanistan comes a few weeks after the Afghanistan Conference in Paris, where the international community and the Afghan Government took critical stock of progress on their work to date. All participating countries, while strongly underlining their commitment to Afghanistan, also called for greater future promotion of Afghan ownership, and for the United Nations to assume an even more prominent coordinating role. Germany is among the largest supporters of reconstruction and stabilization in Afghanistan and, as part of the ISAF international security force, has taken on responsibility for the northern region. In its Afghanistan Policy the Federal Government decided to further strengthen civilian reconstruction and expand its commitment in geographical terms. Germany has pledged over 1.1 billion euro (US$ 1.65 billion) for civilian reconstruction up to 2010. There will be a greater focus on training in both the security and vocational fields. July 21, 2008
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