UN
Security tops Kabul meeting ahead of London Conference
20 January 2010 - The Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) meets today ahead of the London Conference on Afghanistan at the end of the month.
This is the 13th meeting of the 28-member forum where Afghanistan’s leaders and the international community identify top development priorities for funding.
The meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sees the Government of Afghanistan presenting its key plans.
The JCMB is co-chaired by top UN envoy Kai Eide, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan, and by Afghanistan’s Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal who is also chief economic advisor to President Hamid Karzai.
On the agenda for the Board’s approval are economic development and the effective use of aid money from the international community.
Also to be discussed is the international community’s funding for planned increases in the size of Afghanistan’s national security forces – the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP).
Training members of the ANA and the ANP, plus peace and reintegration plans will also be among the topics on the agenda.
Other items for today’s JCMB are to endorse the Government’s reform agenda and plans to focus the implementation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) on economic growth by organizing efforts around several clusters of ministries.
During the meeting, the Minister of Finance will brief the international community on recommendations to improve budget execution, plus findings from the latest donor financial review.
Of the JCMB's total 28 members, seven are from the Government of Afghanistan as nominated by the President; plus 21 representatives from the international community.
The Afghan Government representatives include the senior economic advisor to the President as co-chair; the National Security Advisor, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Economy, Education and Justice.
In line with the Afghanistan Compact – the by-product agreement of the London Conference of 2006 – the JCMB was constituted for a period of five years from April 2006 to March 2011.
By Aurora V. Alambra, UNAMA
