It has noted that most of the confidence building measures (CBMs) slated for Afghanistan's development are at preliminary or planning stages and has, therefore, called for its speedy implementation.

Inaugurating the senior officials' meeting on the Istanbul – Heart of Asia Process, here on Friday, the Indian Foreign Secretary, Sujatha Singh said : 'In past meetings perhaps we have not been using this platform enough for political discussions. I am therefore hoping that in this Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) we will correct this, and have more detailed discussions on political and security questions which are of concern to Afghanistan and to all of us.'

Saying that Afghanistan today is at a critical juncture in its history, she said 'We think that all the building blocks for an election that will unite the whole of Afghanistan are already in place. The main threat to this election process is the continued efforts by extremist groups to undermine security and deny the Afghan citizen the right to freely exercise his/her franchise.'

She noted that President Karzai has made great efforts to ensure that the required legislation for an Independent Election Commission and an Independent Election Complaints Commission have been put in place, in time for these elections. Also the work being done by Chairman Nuristani to update the voters list, and the extensive planning exercise undertaken by the leadership of the Afghan National Security Forces to ensure security for the elections.

'There is never any justification for terrorism and India strongly believes that it is only through the closest of international cooperation that this evil scourge of terror will be defeated,' she said.

The Indian Foreign Secretary remarked that reconciliation process for bringing the extremist elements to the mainstream of Afgan public life was vital for a smooth political transition. She lauded the efforts of the Afghan authorities and the High Peace Council in their efforts for a Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process in this direction.

The Indian Foreign Secretary urged the senior officials to introspect on the manner in which the various CBM cooperation activities have been progressing.

'Unfortunately on first view, most of our CBM activities appear to be at their preliminary or planning stages. So far we have little to show for in terms of concrete cooperation activities that are delivering benefits to Afghanistan. It is important that we shift gears from the planning stage to the implementation stage,' she said.

She informed that as the lead country on Trade and Investment Opportunities CBM, India had recently organised a 'Doing Business with Afghanistan Conference and Trade Exhibition in New Delhi to motivate businessmen to invest in and do business with Afghanistan.

On the proposal on funding as suggested by Afghanistan, the Indian Foreign Secretary said : 'We welcome the suggestion made by Afghanistan for a Funding mechanism that will support the coordination activities being undertaken by the Afghan Foreign Ministry for the Istanbul process. Let us look at this suggestion seriously so that we can finalise a concrete proposal in time for the Ministerial meeting that will take place later this year in China.'

She noted that the potential of Afghanistan as a major economic hub for energy, raw materials, trade and connectivity to major markets of the region still remain a major impediment. 'India, Iran and Afghanistan are already discussing the possibilities of cooperation centred on the future development of the Chahbahar Port in Iran, and we hope to see other such projects fructify in the near future,' she said.

The Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister, Ershad Ahmadi also urged the member countries in the Istanbul-Heart of Asia Process to consider his country being a hub for trade and connectivity in the region.

The Director General of Asia Department in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luo Zhaohui informed that his country was for connectivity in central and south Asia. It has proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

He said that China had also proposed setting up of an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and this proposal would be taken in the July meeting of senior officials of Istanbul-Heart of Asia Process slated in Beijing.

The Ministerial Conference on Istanbul-Heart of Asia Process will be convened in Tianjin in China in August followed by another meeting of senior officials.