TALLINN, Sep 15, BNS - The Estonian ambassador to Afghanistan, Harri Tiido, visited Afghanistan from Sept. 7-13 to meet with the country's officials and the Estonian military and civilian personnel deployed there.
Tiido had meetings with Afghanistan's foreign minister, deputy minister of economy and opinion leaders, as well as with the special envoys of the United Nations, NATO and the EU. He also met with several ambassadors.
Tiido's other meetings were with Estonian civilian experts and members of the military.
The purpose of the visit was to obtain information and assessments from Afghanistan's leaders and Western representatives working in Afghanistan as regards the security situation in Afghanistan and private sector reforms. Tiido offered information about Estonian reforms and discussed ways how to share Estonia's experiemce.
The foreign minister of Afghanistan, Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, thanked Estonia for its contribution to the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
The ambassador delivered to Spanta an invitation from Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Paet to visit Estonia.
Also spoken about was the situation in Afghanistan's Helmand province.
The activity of Helmand's governor Muhammad Mangali strongly contributes to the province's development, but more support for him from Kabul would be needed, Tiido said.
The Estonian ambassador to Afghanistan resides in Tallinn.
Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8861, sise@bns.ee
