Ambassador Jawad Travels to Brazil and Argentina for Official Visits
Ambassador Said T. Jawad traveled to Brazil and Argentina in early October as part of an official visit to two of the four Latin American countries in which he serves as Afghanistan's non-resident ambassador. (The other two are Colombia and Mexico.) In both Brasilia and Buenos Aires Ambassador Jawad met with senior government officials to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan and outline further bilateral cooperation.
Brazil
On his third trip as non-resident ambassador to Brazil, Ambassador Jawad visited Brasilia on October 2-3. While there, he conveyed messages of gratitude from President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Dr. Rangin Spanta to their counterparts, as well as the appreciation of the Afghan people for Brazil's strong political support for Afghanistan's reconstruction efforts.
Ambassador Jawad held a series of bilateral meetings with senior officials of the Brazilian government including Ambassador Regina Dunlop, Head of the Asia and Oceania Department at the Ministry of External Relations; Minister Marco Farani, Head of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency; Ambassador Roberto Jaguaribe, Political Undersecretary for Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East at the Ministry of External Relations; and General Terra Amaral, Director of Intelligence and Strategy at the Ministry of Defense.
In an effort to expand bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Brazil, Ambassador Jawad reviewed with Brazilian officials a number of opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. Demographics and census, agriculture, trade and investment, law enforcement capacity-building and stabilization operations, and opportunities for trilateral cooperation in these and other potential sectors were some of the key issues he discussed with the Brazilian officials. As a result, the Brazilian government offered to receive delegations from some of Afghanistan's relevant institutions to build upon the discussions and to initiate programs for implementation with the assistance of Brazil.
Ambassador Jawad and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim signed the Basic Agreement for Technical Cooperation between Afghanistan and Brazil in Brasilia on August 1, 2006. Afghanistan and Brazil initiated the signing of the agreement based on the participation of Brazil in the London Conference in early 2006 when Foreign Minister Amorim praised Afghanistan's achievement of the Bonn Agreement objectives and pledged to help the country implement the goals of the Afghanistan Compact and the Afghanistan National Development (ANDS).
In September 2004, Ambassador Jawad presented his credentials to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to re-establish diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and Brazil. Afghanistan's first indirect diplomatic relations with Brazil began in 1962. Former Afghan Prime Minister Hashim Maiwandwal, who served as Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the U.S. from 1958 to 1963, became Afghanistan’s first non-resident ambassador to Brazil. Relations between the two countries stalled after the breakdown of government institutions in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979.
Argentina
As part of his official visit to Buenos Aires on October 8-9, Ambassador Jawad met with members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense to discuss the ongoing international rebuilding effort in Afghanistan with a focus on the achievements of the past six years as well as ongoing challenges and ways to overcome them.
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Jawad met with Ambassador Vicente Espeche Gil, Coordinator-General for Bilateral Political Affairs; Rafael Alberto Patrignani, Secretary of the Directorate for Asia and Oceania; Fernando Higa, Minister Plenipotentiary; and Ambassador Jose Octovio Bordon, former ambassador to the U.S.
At the Ministry of Defense, Ambassador Jawad discussed the current security situation, the progress and needs of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police, and regional security Dr. Leonardo Pablo Hekimian, Director-General of Policy and Alfredo W. Forti, Secretary of International Affairs.
Ambassador Jawad participated at a speaking event on the situation in Afghanistan before an influential and well-informed audience at the Argentine Council for Foreign Relations. During his speech he discussed the current security situation in Afghanistan, with particular emphasis on the progress made since 2001 and the existing security challenges.
Ambassador Jawad presented his credentials to H.E. Daniel Scioli, Vice President of Argentina on January 19, 2005. This visit was Ambassador Jawad's second official trip to Argentina as non-resident ambassador to the country.
