12 May 2009 - The UN’s top envoy in Afghanistan is encouraging increased support for the country from its neighbours at a major regional conference.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan Kai Eide, is attending the third Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA) in Islamabad, Pakistan.

More than forty international delegations will convene for the two day conference, which begins tomorrow, aimed at boosting economic ties with Afghanistan and building regional stability.

Speaking in Kabul before leaving for Islamabad Mr Eide said of the conference: “First of all I hope it will be concrete. When we look back at the two previous conferences that had taken place in Kabul and New Delhi, there had been a lot of words. Regional economic cooperation is a buzz word that we all use but unfortunately we have not come far with regard to concrete results. So I think that we can turn the page now and concentrate on concrete projects – how to implement them? When to implement them? And by whom. And that would be my objective."

Afghanistan hosted the first Regional Economic Cooperation Conference in 2005 which was attended by eleven regional countries.

The second conference was hosted in New Delhi, India in November 2006 and this year’s conference in Islamabad will be attended by diplomatic delegations from 24 countries and 18 international organizations.

Listen to an interview with the SRSG