The European Commission will allocate 200 million euros for the reform and development of Afghanistan's justice system in the 2007-2010 period, according to a statement of the EU body released on Monday. The aid is part of a 610 million euro package to help Afghanistan in the next four years. The announcement comes just as an international conference entitled "Rule of Law in Afghanistan" is underway in the Italian capital Rome. EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner will be in Rome on Tuesday to attend the last day of the summit hosted by the Italian foreign ministry gathering delegations of governments and international institutions to discuss the justice system and rule of law in Afghanistan.
The two-day conference is attended by, among others, Italian foreign minister Massimo D'Alema, Afghan president Hamid Karzai, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. During the plenary sessions, the leaders of several other countries, including those neighbouring Afghanistan will be present, among them Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India, Iran and Turkey. Representing the United States will be the assistant secretary of state for central and south Asia, Richard Boucher, together with the US ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, who is of Afghan origin and who has been a US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Technical sessions which will last till Tuesday afternoon will look at the reconstruction of the judicial system, whether in terms of the laws and legislation or the coodination at regional and provincial levels, with particular attention to the activities involved in the training of justice sector professionals and with the objective of creating a task force on criminal justice.