DUSHANBE, March 26, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- The Fifth Regional Economic Cooperation on Afghanistan (RECCA V) is opening in Dushanbe today.

In all, 500 local and foreign delegations, including representatives of international and regional organizations as well as international financial institutions, are taking part in the conference that is concluding tomorrow.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon is inaugurating the conference and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will also address the conference.

The conference is being held in several sections: Achieving Economic Development through Building Infrastructure (Transport and Energy); Human Resource Development (Through Promoting Vocational Education and Training); and Promotion of Investment, Trade, Transit and Border Management (Through Strengthening Cooperation/Coordination Among National Authorities and International Partners). 

The Fifth Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan is expected to be one more major event in the process of reconstructing Afghanistan’s and an effective of regional integration and coordination of regional projects.

A Symposium of Scholars will be organized at the margins of the Fifth Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan.  The Symposium is aimed at focusing on the important topic “Afghanistan and Prospects of Regional Economic Cooperation.”  Active and effective economic and social integration in the region, especially through the establishment of transit corridors and of an integrated energy grid, is one of the key, efficient factors in the rebuilding of Afghanistan’s economy and in promoting political and social stability in the country.

Besides, the business forum and exhibition entitled "Afghanistan - the Potential for Regional Economic Cooperation" will be held in Dushanbe on 26-29 March 2012, as part of the Fifth Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA-V).  It is designed with the following aims in mind: the exploration of ways to facilitate regional economic cooperation for the benefit of the people of the region; the promotion of economic integration, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan and the region as a whole; and the exhibition of the existing capacity of Afghanistan and potential of the region, possibility of bilateral and regional perspective projects.

The exhibition is organized by Tajikistan under the auspices of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of both countries.