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New Delhi: The road ministry is in the final stages of preparing a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which India will help Afghanistan develop roads and highways and formulate a road transport policy, and share its knowledge in transportation technologies.

The pact is also for developing a public-private partnership (PPP) and contract management models. The note will be sent for the cabinet’s approval after being vetted by road minister Oscar Fernandes.

Officials say the move shows India’s long-term commitment to Afghanistan, which India considers an integral part of its extended neighbourhood. With international troops set to exit Afghanistan this year, India has repeatedly said it would stay engaged in the country.

“India has one of the largest highway programmes called NHDP (National Highways Development Project) and so we will provide them capacities for building roads and highways, and knowledge for contract management as we have a commitment with Afghanistan for infrastructure development," said a senior official at the road ministry, declining to be identified.

The draft MoU being prepared lists several heads for cooperation: public sector capacity development; formulation of national road transport policy; legal framework for regulation of road transport sector; development of PPP for expanding road transport infrastructure to provide connectivity to remote areas; developing standards for motor vehicles including safety and pollution norms; training of Afghan experts by India’s institute for road safety; exchange and sharing of knowledge and cooperation in transportation technologies and transport policies; and sharing experience on contractual frameworks, financing and procurement issues, among other areas.

“The purpose of this Memorandum is to establish a long term and effective bilateral relationship of communication and cooperation among the Parties in Road Transportation and highways infrastructure, technologies and systems," says the draft, which Mint has reviewed.

The MoU has been drafted following a bilateral meeting between India and Afghanistan in March 2013, in which officials from Afghanistan “expressed desire to enter into a bilateral MoU on cooperation in road transportation and highways sector with India", according to the document. The ministry of external affairs has examined the draft.

The countries will form a joint working group (JWG) to oversee and identify specific cooperation activities and services. The JWG, with members nominated both by India and Afghanistan, will look into the implementation of the MoU. India’s involvement in Afghanistan’s road sector is not new. In 2008, India completed a 218km section of road connecting Zaranj on Afghanistan’s Iranian border to Delaram in the southern Nirmroz province. This section joins Afghanistan’s Garland highway, which connects capital Kabul to Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz. The aim of the highway was to ensure an alternative route for movement of goods from landlocked Afghanistan to India through Iran’s Chabahar port.

Since the fall of the Taliban administration in November 2001, India has pledged $2 billion for rehabilitation and aid for Afghanistan.

“India has always said it is committed to Afghanistan, that we will be there for the long haul as long as our Afghan friends want us. These pacts are evidence of that," said a person close to the developments, who, too, did not want to be named.

India’s deepening cooperation with Afghanistan comes as US-led forces, weary with their more than decade-long stay and facing mounting casualties due to a resurgent Taliban insurgency, are to exit the country and Afghanistan’s neighbours, including Pakistan, are seeking to increase their strategic influence in the country.

Once seen as on the side of the Soviet Union, which invaded Afghanistan in 1979, India has been working hard to dispel the image and shoring up goodwill of Afghans with scores of development programmes that have included building the nation’s parliament.

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