Going to be having a conversation about the private sector in afghanistan. Hosted y posted this witht have done the partnership of the Senior Advisor here. Thank you, tony. Will have a very interesting and constructive conversation today. When i think about people who are qualified for their jobs, and two or the right people at the right time, i cant think of a better person than my friend greg from the afghanistan pakistan office. He has served in the toughest places in the world for the United States. Patriot, a really qualified individual. Thank god he agreed to do public service. Up. , come on [applause] it is very nice to see many of my old friends here, particularly my friend from cairo. He has done a lot of things that need to be done in afghanistan. Great to see all of you. I look forward to meeting all of those i have not met. I would like to see say a few words about the strategy, and a few points on how that relates role in afghanistan and pakistan, and talk about the specifics. I feel very fortunate to be returning to usaid at a time when we actually do have a strategy for what to do in the region, the south asia strategy. I have some marching orders. Within it, we have the components for afghanistan and pakistan. Dhe afghanistan role for usai is to help with sustaining the gains made in the social sector over the last 16 years health, education, and womens empowerment. The second is to build the bond between the government and citizens. That is through the Service Delivery i mentioned, through credible elections, and through significantly reduced corruption. Is private sectorled economic development, focused on Market Centers and importantly nonexclusively, but not exclusively, on exports. I will talk about that in more detail. This is a very president ial thing to do, by the way. [laughter] pakistan, where we have been engaged for a long time, we have three things we are trying to and we are on the same page with the government and the network of important stakeholders related to these things. Help pakistan to mainstream the Federally Administered Tribal Area in any way they feel appropriate with the adjacent province. To help make that area a place where people who have lived there all along can helpa normal life, and to there were 1. 6 Million People displaced by conflict, and to the rest of pakistan. Returned, making it possible for them to reintegrate. The second piece is to help communities in pakistan, particularly the areas gainrable to extremism, to resilience against that, and southernrly karachi, number two. Something that involves working with Civil Society. We are building on something that is happening. Pakistan, helping attract private investment to create jobs, particularly for younger people. Under all of that is to make the maximum effort to be accountable for the taxpayer funds that go into supporting our programs in pakistan and afghanistan, and in the broader context, to make the relationship with india as constructive as possible. Thingsthat, one of the that afghanistan has done over the last year is to create an air corridor between kabul and delhi. This has been a real support to businesses, private afghan businesses that are exporting the process products of the countryside. Particularly in markets in the region. Marble,uts, carpets, war wool. Es, this corridor has been quite understand and i they are contemplating extending that to the uae, kazakhstan, other Central Asian countries, and perhaps, turkey. As we collaborated with our business colleagues in egypt and the ability to invest in equipment to process the products of the countryside depend upon the regulatory policies and administrative environments conducive to that. Electricity,ity, land,nd clear access to and a transparent relationship between the business and do allent, so they can the things they need to do to do that kind of business. We think that is a real andrtunity for afghanistan, we are doing everything we can to support it, and we would like to see 10 years hence what one can see if one drives from cairo to alexandria, producing highvalue crops for the local export markets. Focusing on to be the market areas, in the larger cities, and the areas adjacent where the government control then in some of the other parts of the country. Given some of the policy environment and conditions, conl there are already existing gaps in the businesses, and there will be more who can set up the facilities to process the products and the countryside, and reach out. Someone mining for onyx in hel mond and processing near kabul, others growing fruit and vegetables and selling it in india. A trading event for three days at the end of september in india, between indian and afghan men and women, government officials, media there, Civil Society, were about 1700 people that participated in that event. Out of that came 27 million in products,igned sales 24040 million million in various types of agreements. Shows there are existing afghanistan thats know how to deal with the region , and our job is to make that grow. Be doing a number of things to support those many of including the businesses in india are run and owned by women. Another piece we are looking at are the electrical Power Requirements, the growth of the private sector in afghanistan. Our support to the electric power sector, and we are still working on that. There would be significant privatesector led Economic Growth relating to the exports to the region and other places, that what are the electric Power Requirements of that . We are trying to get a handle on january, andnd of see what we can do to support that as we move forward. And iortant part of it, was talking with the leadership of the chamber of commerce a few job ingo, 70 of the pushawar depends on trade with afghanistan. A lot of the opportunity relates to exporting, and it would be nice if there were Free Movement of goods across the afghanpakistan border area border. We will be doing everything we can to get to yes on that. For two weeks is not a good way to build your business. Theher important piece is extractive sector for several afghanistanrk with to help develop that, and the efforts werent very successful. Again open to doing that and we are looking to support it in ways afghanistan wants to. Were not going to get ahead of the Afghan Government of supporting the extraction, which could be a huge diversion. We have engaged the u. S. To take theervice huge amount of raw data developed years ago on the Mineral Resources of afghanistan, and put that into some form that is useful to potential investors in extractive industries. We have already contracted. That way, a Mining Company can ifif they are can know they are interested in a particular resource, what it is and what about it. The independent Anticorruption Agency monitoring and Evaluation Committee has done it corruption and vulnerability assessments, they started with even with the ministry of health and went to the ministry of education. Were supporting them to do that, and supporting their quarterly followup on action taken against the recommendations made. Has been ay of mines very good roadmap for development of the extractive industries. As the effort with the anticorruption push that the as theyecided push forward with that, there is a roadmap to develop the extractive sectors. We will do what we can to support that, including a new to help theave government ministries addressed sources of corruption within Society Monitor the extent to which that is being done. Make,nal point i would there is a u. S. Afghanistan initiatived afghan ghan initiative including over 200 Performance Measures related to the whole gamut of the country, including private Sector Development issues. Han initiative, and the president has emphasized they are moving forward with that. We are helping them to move on those things, and that we have some capability to do it. We have thethat, new development partnership, which is taking key reform measures, Performance Measures, and relating u. S. Financial support to them. 800 millionyear, to specificted Performance Measures agreed between the United States in afghanistan and afghanistan. Those are elements that can support more specific private Sector Developments that we know are absolutely essential to afghanistan of achieving the president has laid out that the afghan president has laid out at the senior officials meeting, how to get private investment so that afghanistan can pay its bills and move ahead. To the overall objective of the south asia strategy, which is to help afghanistan be stable enough to manage extremism within its borders, to help pakistan the secure enough to play be secure enough to play a constructive role in the region. I look forward to having the chance to say hello to my old friends. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much. Csis. Welcome to i am a senior fellow here. I will be moderating this excellent panel. Introduce to briefly our distinguished panelists, and then i have a dozen questions to ask. Lady, is a member of the Afghanistan Women Chamber of commerce and industry. Wayne, a former ambassador to Economic Affairs bul. He u. S. Embassy in kaubl and ceo of president the Afghan Chamber of commerce. And we have a member of the federation of afghanistans craftsman and traders. I would like to talk about the u. S. Perspective and jump into more of the local voices. We will start with a feelgood story, i would like to ask some questions about the achievements of afghanistan in the private sector in particular. Anthony, what are the three main achievements the private sector in afghanistan has to accomplish . I will start with the private sector. Afghanistan looking at it in context, it is weird cspan is here today. We have a larger audience than just the audience here, watching. It is important the American Public know the success afghanistan has had with a lot of support from the United States and other donors have not just been in health and education and womens empowerment. There is a of success going on in afghanistan. In light of that success cannot thatblicly talked about success cannot be publicly you canbout because bring others into it would like to take down that successful project. I am going to whip through a few successes in a broadway that identifies in a brod way that a broad identifies how far they have come. Cellularthere was no in afghanistan. Subscribersobile now exist, with a penetration rate for women of 86 92 . The private sector got there was with a lot of support of the donor community. The early donor investments started as early as 2002, and came from the department of helping usaid, implement over 2 billion inside used antan and additional 2 billion of outside donors to bring the infrastructure in afghanistan to where it was a few years ago. We will talk about what needs to be done now in a few minutes, and this is one of the sectors in which they have followed the kind. Followed behind. Afghanistan is primarily an agrarian economy. The illicit economy in afghanistan is agdriven, a pretty sizable percentage. Afghanistans agriculture is still the main driver for employment, subsistence living. Wheat is the main component. Afghanistan is the largest her capita wheat consumer in the capita we to consumer in the world. Agricultureducts in include opium, fruits, nuts, and lambheepskins, skins. There are already a lot of withts going on, pomegranates and fruits and nuts. There has been a major amount of Infrastructure Development done by the United States, the world bank, and others. A series of private Sector Investments that will hopefully includes the, this dam, and aor a contract was awarded to General Electric for a second largest generator there. A 500 fulton line is almost finished. Kabulect that took the main public utility and it took it into a soon to be privatized fully and available to a foreign investor. They also spent a lot of time on regionalization. Power gridsne successfully. We hope you will have a diversified we will have a diversified electrical system that will be owned by private companies under the new independent Power Production law that passed. The afghan president really deserves credit for this they have attempted to region lies a lot of the economic regionalized a lot of infinite economic infrastructure with india and iran, actual ports they can ship products to. They started connections with salmah dam was inaugurated by india and afghanistan recently. Afghani ways to get private grown products abroad is the way to do that. That was the coverage of some of the highlights. I will put a little bit in context. Up inpita gdp has gone 2002 from where it was in 2002. The economy has grown. But it has been hard to foment growth in the private sector in afghanistan. The remains of the sector probably employees 70 probably employees 7 70 of the population. Afghanistan has a long tradition of small traders. You have a businessindustrial and theround 25 , Development Bank in their last said it is 10 12 . There is a lot to do out here, even with the very ambitious and determined entrepreneurs that exist. Growth came initial because of the International Funds going into afghanistan, a lot of it from the military spending, support spending which was tied to the Development Systems coming in from many sources. Thesaw the shock that hit economy when all of those withdrew, and a real drop in gdp growth. And we now reversing, have seen an upswing in gdp. Year about 2. 6 this growth, and expects to be over 3 next year. There is a lot that has to be done. The private sector condoms as an important component in a number of areas comes as an important component in a number of areas that need to be worked on simultaneously. As you are supporting the you need to get better at collecting revenue in a way that doesnt harm the private sector. You need to get better at collectingthis is bein the government and private sector how can you expand time,e and at the same not overburdened private sector , buth with bureaucracy look for ways to expand the tax base. You have to get a lot better in expanding your government funds, you have to provide Daily Services in a way that people appreciate. That is to the general population, as well as the private sector. Infrastructure was a very important part of making this possible, which now has to be maintained, because a lot of it has not been maintained sufficiently. Side tough top side, there are a lot of reasons that Business Confidence hasnt been high, due to the lack of security, the slow pace of reforms, and the week regulatory system weak regulatory system. Hope, thattant to the government seems committed to working on all of these areas. Is aimed aticy addressing the situation. All, but through them there are a number of steps the government has taken to improve dialogue with the private sector. In dealing with tax problems, audits, very practical things that make it hard for businesses to work together. There are a number of things they will have to keep working on in the longterm, which both jeff and greg mentioned. We will come back to them. There is a lot of work to do, but we all recognize the vital importance of getting this private sector engine moving, and one of the most important facts about that is 400,000 people coming into the job market every year. People without jobs are usually not good for societies. The private sector is the place you can generate those jobs. Thank you. What do you think are the main sectors that have the highest potential for growth and why . I will start with mining and extractives, because that has gotten a lot of focus from the Afghan Government and the United States government in the last few months. In afghanistan, there is a huge amount of illicit mining already happening around the country. Some of the deals are struck with shipments to the middle east and lebanon, but a lot of it is heading to china, prospective deals between chinese Extraction Companies and afghan governors or regional players or militia leaders. The Afghan Government is trying to bring the Mining Sector into the formal economy in a way that is structured and planned and ethical. It is a big lift to get there. The areas being looked at right there arerble, wonderful marble exports already occurring regionally. The Cargo Network we talked about will help do that. The world bank made the only in theon for clean coal world for afghanistan this past year, which is a big deal if you know the bank has been pushing for solar and wind the past few years. Coal, it has the ability to bring portable generation capacity to villages in areas that never wouldve had Energy Development there for years or decades. Lithium, the United States government has had a number of meetings internally and with the afghans about a possible joint venture between the United States and afghanistan to explore lithium. Service tookogical an analysis they did from 2006 so that extractive assessments could be made on the best locations. Iron and Copper Investments are already there. Q is a Major Company having problems getting going. In chinagrowing demand and india for their copper and iron, as well as gold and other gemstones. The second sector i would put is ict. Industry,w the ict you have to make constant investments in technology to improve offerings for your consumerled community, your subscriber base. 4gy shouldve moved on to more than three years ago. Give the u. S. Ambassador a huge amount of credit for this. They finally opened their open access policy for telephony on it towebsite, and opened to invest intors modernization. 4gare expecting a move to which could bring in another round of major investments, more jobs, and a huge uplift to the the jobs inause of the main areas. There is a new independent power and production law passed that allows independent power financing to be done by outside companies coming into afghanistan. In a partnership with the regional governments, they can structure their own agreements. Government was initially financing only through solar agreements, but this only gives afghanistan 3 of their energy needs. Gas, they have strong deposits there as well, and hydro. They have small and large capabilities for longterm energy plays there. Ambassador wayne, you mentioned regulatory obstacles for afghanistans private sector. I would like to hear your views, the main what are challenges that the afghan private sector is facing today . What would be three major reforms that would help it develop . I will let the two colleagues from afghanistan talk about what the afghans are saying. True that what afghanistan has been trying to do is pursue goals that are running into each other sometimes. The government needs to dramatically increase its income. They cover about 40 of their other each year, and the 60 is provided by international donors. Saying, we dont want to be funding you forever. Collections of the government are going out, and trying to root out corruption, trying to get more efficient and transparent in collecting. They have strongarmed a lot of people, also. And have focused on the Biggest Companies to try and get money out of them. It doesnt only happen in afghanistan. They need to move to a phase where they are still finding ways to expand that tax base and input, but do so in a way that facilitates the creation of jobs, the maintenance of business. That,ey are trying to do working on a onestop shop for businesses to come in and work. Is a revision of the kind of penalties that come from audits so people can easily appeal who think they are being unfairly charged. They are introducing electronic all aimed atxes, making things easier, more transparent. They created this council focused on the private sector, theys many of you know, have made private Sector Development one of their National Priority clusters, which is an important recognition of the importance of this area. But there are a number of specific things to help this and wee move forward, need to take keep the dialogue going and take the ideas that come from the private sector and put them into practice, which is not easy. It will take a lot of hard work and the continued interest of many of us. Looking through a private Sector Development plans, capital is the, number one issue. Only 2 of afghan firms right now, as of 2016, use any type of bank for financier investments. It is improving slowly. The government has to move more quickly. There is little Debt Financing available. Of dollars ofions investments going into mostly through private afghan hands into the country, happening at eight pure a pure equity base investments. The kabul bank scandal, they went to an extreme, and now it is hurting the ability for the private sector to get access to capital. Banks can get 15 from the central bank, so why do they need to lend to somebody else . Number two is the insecurity issue. Is a majority issue issue in afghanistan from a political stabilization and civilization standpoint. Hasnt necessarily impacted major infrastructure investment. There is a lot of investment going in that is not getting attacked, and there is not a problem with those investment. Insecurity, at least in the last few years, has been focused on creating political expediency for the terrorist organizations but nottaliban, necessarily hurting their ability to feed themselves and grow product. There is poor structure of the enabling environment inside afghanistan for business. Especially from our afghan members, this is the number one issue. Change thata the private sector is really an accessory to a big institutional state structure, and building twostate capacity. To state capacity. The private sector feels pushed to the side of. That needs to change. The government has to be willing to safely want foreign investors, we want afghans abroad. This is a very proud segment of the global economy. There is a lot of money and equity to bring into afghanistan and invest. A feeling of micromanagement of the private sector economy. They would like to see that improve. Report from october said they are only spending 75 of their Development Budget on projects for Critical Infrastructure that affect economic development. We would like to see that number above 75 . How can you approve improve the economy if the government is not consenting . Members are really up in arms about overtaxation. Afghanight 90 of the economy is informal, because of the high marginal tax rates. Many companies have moved out of afghanistan to india and , because this is seen as confiscatory. About 40 , rate is and you can go to the World Bank Website to look at how all of that is calculated. When you compare that to the two ofstates in iran, those countries are 44 . The regional neighbors are much much lower. Uae, 16 . , kazakhstan, 29 . Are almost 15 15 lower tax rates in pakistan. I would like to hear the perspective from the afghanistan private sector. What do you think are the main challenges for the private and what do you think are the reforms needed so the private sector can grow . Good afternoon. I want to give background to the situation in afghanistan. Afghanistan in during the taliban, we did not have access to education. We had so many Good Development projects in afghanistan, a good to comef afghan females into the workforce. Household women got access to Higher Education inside and outside the country. The mainy is one of components for Business Development in this country. Afghan women have good access to ,echnology using smartphones wifi. We do have the language barriers that afghans are not able to speak other languages than their home language. But they can build skills and have access to international markets. The challenges for afghan women access tovate sector, finance. We need a good number of Bank Guarantees to get access. Also, we are not able to get good projects from the government of afghanistan, so more hard work needs to be done to reach those opportunities. Transportation is also one of our targets. Women did not get access to transportation easily. I cannot even travel to other evennces could not travel to other provinces of afghanistan. The taxation is also one of the biggest problems. High range of taxes that we have to give to the government. We have to pay more than our taxation, a fee to the person who will clear our taxation. If you have an egovernment system and afghanistan, everyone will be able to solve in afghanistan, everyone will be able to solve their problems. We dont have any Good Government support for women, especially with the private sector. We do have the Afghan Chamber of commerce for women in afghanistan. But we never get involved with the strategic meetings. There are so many things going on, but we have so many positive. Hings thank you. We have some very wellknown faces here. One has been working for the Afghan Builders Association for many years. And we have someone very active in the afghan private sector here. There are so many challenges and so many good things in afghanistan. I started a Small Business in afghanistan in 2006. I have grown 10 times in the last 10 years. But i have also seen problems compared to my counterparts. There is no less access to finance in afghanistan. But there is easier access to finance in other countries. There are loans given to entrepreneurs, but there is no private sector. There is no capacity to give loans in the private sector. There are a lot of other things that need to be considered. Its true there are a lot of good things done in afghanistan. ,e have Good Development of itt media, all of these things are very good. Big businesses that are doing very well. They have their own finance. The situation in afghanistan environments can support change and ensure the sustainable economic development. If you go to the afghanistan market, each of them has at least one worker force. And they have up to 10 and 12 and 15. They are the main providers of afghanistan and of afghanistan jobs. For example, if they want to develop a strategy, they make them provide them with a situation that they would be to hire one person in a year to extend their business so they can provide 600,000 jobs. Much more than what we supply in the job market. Those 600,000 are often neglected. Discriminated, neglected by the government, and not have been paid attention to. Sometimes just kicked out by the government institutions. That is why they are more competitive, they cannot provide good service, and they are suffering. Challenge, they are afraid of the government. They have a prentice is, they train them, they have a apprentices, they train them. The other challenges with the is it is also a challenge. Private Sector Institutions are not doing better. Bit need to be a little [indiscernible] marketide better service. 400,000 workers coming to the afghanistan market, formally what was 200,000. Going to europe or any other country because they are disappointed in afghanistan and cannot work there. Most of them are experienced and they have businesses in afghanistan. Ory just sold their business it went bankrupt. From the government side, if you , like to government the ministry of commerce, ministry of finance, you would see there is a private sector. None of them [indiscernible] they are choosing their private sector on much as much as they are able. And are making impediments looking at that. Example, the mentality if you go to the Government Office for some of the small things he wanted, they look at you not as someone to serve you, someone who is a source of money. These are very uncoordinated Public Sectors. E have a lot of integration [indiscernible] if the ministry of commerce signs something with india, then they will organize it. , themething happens ministry of finances, i dont know. I dont care. Market, they have very uncredited and very lets say they have very uncoordinated and lets say, very weak services. Also, what you just mentioned, the women, they can make a big contribution. The traditional way of business in afghanistan does not make them more available. If you go to [indiscernible] they are very much kept away from that. How we can make this Practical Knowledge and practice together, to enable to include their competency. Challenge for the government is being in the neighborhood of china and india that they make very cheap products and they never allow them to ruin the market. Thank you. I wanted to touch up on the issue of jobs. Afghanistan has a very big procuration, a proust approximately 64 are under the age of 24. What are the opportunities, the Job Opportunities that you have, both young women and young men and afghanistan . Can you talk about the world setting rural setting versus urban setting and what they are facing as entrepreneurials . As he mentioned before, afghanistan is moats is mostly an agricultural country. No doubt that the country has a lot of competitive advantages in that no otheructs country can compare to them. What i would like to say that in developmentalance that covers different areas is the chain. Chain [indiscernible] it can boost the Economic Growth. Promoting value chain can lead to not only the development of but also it that of theto the Development Private sector in the country. Byle it should be forecasted the donor but also those policymakers and privacy sectors who want to fight for the [indiscernible] although the government already has subsidies for each of them, that should be the country very much. Also helps chain products that come to the province, it can be shipped to the investor and processed and exported and delivered to the local market. Additionally, this also has a lot of opportunity that can create jobs. And the importance, the value of provide,r that they Vocational Training to the people of the market. Those who spend 10, 15 years of their life as an apprentice has some knowledge, but they do not have a big knowledge. They should be not only forecasting their big cats, but also [indiscernible] they have more high chances that , or create aa job job, a job opportunity as entrepreneurials. Thank you so much. , about 30 ofning women were involved in the Workforce Development in the market. Because of gender gaps, they never counted as former jobs. They were involved in different activities. They created an income for their houses, that they were counted it was not counted as a formal job. In the nearest few years, we have a hundred 8000 women who have jobs. Jobs. Xecuted 95,000 is very tricky, especially for women, because [indiscernible] between differences are a sustainable job and nonsustainable job, is we do have Job Opportunities with a development projects, we have Job Opportunities that some other companies are coming to work for shortterm and afghanistan. At the same time, we do need sustainable jobs by creating developinghing that. And exporting promotions. Women to find a job, i have a personal experience, especially when we were implementing a project that is called Afghanistan Government program. It implemented the project for the first time. We have to train them in different sectors. Inance marketing finance, marketing, hr. Most of thed that women want to work in the back office. They never want to work for as a marketing salesperson. Challenges in the beginning because we did not know that. They women love to work in the back office the women love to work in the back office. Then we decided to have everything before we select them or before they signed up for classes. Of course, women, because of cultural cultural barriers in to havetan, we do need women in administrative sectors that the government feels more comfortable to work in the back offices with the government private sectors. I really emphasize on most sustainable jobs but it is possible. That it is possible. Encouragereate more women to get involved with formal businesses or to be in afghanistan and create jobs. Thank you. I am going to ask the same question to all the panelists. The u. S. Businesses helped foster a more vibrant private sector in afghanistan . And what role can the u. S. Private sector play . Me first. That is this is a tough one. There is there has not been significant u. S. Investment in afghanistan. There has been a lot of u. S. Corporate participation in afghanistans development. They are through donor assistant mechanism programs and government led programming. As a result, it has been very hard. Because of the insecurity issue, because of the lack of sustained compliant Government Development in the country on the private sector side that has not allowed in interest from a lot of these companies to go into the country and invest. A great deal about the fact that the United States has now been in afghanistan since 2002. Bilateral trade agreement with afghanistan. We have it with every other nation around afghanistan. In some cases, they have been in place for more than a decade. Why is it that the United States has put so much blood and treasure into the nation and yet will not have these foundational tools for private Sector Investment in place for their companies to be able to go in and make Strategic Investments . Lawyers for big u. S. Multinationals have told me they will not allow their companies to send people into the countries into the country to do missions because i do not have protection under the u. S. Bilateral agreement with afghanistan. Without those agreements in place, it is hard to get interest on the investment side. Haves not meant that we not tried to we will continue to try. Our hope is that there will be a bilateral Investment Agreement in place within the next year or so. These are not difficult documents. They are about six to eight pages. Even pakistan has a very robust bilateral Investment Agreement. Toch, if you have been karachi, all the u. S. Major investors are there and spending money. If you have been to delhi for the summit last month, u. S. Investors are all over delhi, all over india. We need to us give afghanistan the ability to attract the same companies who are in the same region to produce products. Not just for export to the u. S. Or to the developed country markets, they are investing for the growth of those countries. Need to focus on that. We have hadide, major u. S. Investors in that have gone into look at it because they principally partner with afghan telcos. That could still be an area that could move forward without necessarily it right now having that Investment Agreement in place. Our hope is that all of we have had major u. S. Construction firms working with afghan Construction Firms trying to elevate their capacity and their level of competitiveness and compliance and good programming for management. Our hope is those relationships will continue beyond the Development Cycle in the immediate future, but into private sector led programming, too. There is a lot of potential tied up into those original partnerships that help on the development side. I will just say in addition to what jeff said is correct. Security. Sue is a lot of people are not willing to take the risk to invest a lot of money until the security situation is improved. Has beengovernment willing to invest its 100 billion or so. The private sector makes independent choices and they will not do that unless there is a good legal framework. Ad unless they feel there is good secure situation as well. That is part of the problem we have. Where we have influence right is through not just the bilateral, but the multilateral donor efforts. What has been talked about and what i hope there will be an increased focus on is a couple things i came up. Better budget, execution, to get that money out there in the afghan economy. Too, and two, selecting promoting the value chain and the agricultural area. Because a lot of times, the environment helps the private sector develops its budget those value chains. And that is what we can do. I hope there will be an increased focus among the donors on saying ok, Afghan Government, what are you doing to execute your budget with a focus on and consumption that comes from employing people. Youre are not only going to get the value out of the direct value chain itself, but those workers who work in it, they will be spending money with those micro inner prizes micro enterprises. We need that very much to help afghanistan grow in addition to the large projects of infrastructure. I think the project greg was talking about for Foreign Trade will be important in that sense, too. Tyingd like to see more into the agricultural areas in general because that is where most of the people still are. It will be good if we can get them jobs and income. When i was reading comic the private sector has more efficiency than the Public Sector in doing any projects. Prospect, u. S. Forces u. S. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars in afghanistan. Lets say one of the projects 120 million. F this 120 million gave it to your private sector. Provinces. N 12 if you want to create jobs, if you want to level of afghanistans economy, as a by what they have. Then you have the technology, knowledge, the experience, and everything. After 10 years, what will be the result . That companies will not come. Example, [indiscernible] it is like a u. S. Grant, but lets make it in afghanistan are we have cheap labor, cheap land. We are business friendly, large, but not implemented. Practical assistance in afghanistan. What will happen . The private sector still not doing too good . Securityfrom the concern we have in afghanistan, i can say for the people of afghanistan we have a lot of opportunities. Afghanistan is a land of opportunity for everyone. For mining, forever cultural for gemstonese, and everything. Have onetage, i would comment that we would be able to create jobs online. The we are trained with that they are trained with technology, they are trained with other sources of technology knowledge. We do have a very talented young people. They are trained. Unfortunately, they need a job inside the country. It is easy to ask them with an online base. Right now, i do believe we do have so many workers from india, china, and other countries that they are working for Technology Companies online based. Procedure. He issues for security the one of the one of one of the parts that we will be able to help them with is by getting jobs and getting sustainable with your career. Thanks so much. Just one final question. Mr. Heuern it over to for final thoughts. And then open up a q a. This is a room of foreign investors. If you had to sell afghanistan, what would you tell them . Are looking for certain factors. Technology, security. Capital. Capital. Exactly. Capital and technology from the United States land, human resources, manpower from such astan, this makes nice joint venture. Are armedthose who and fighting Afghanistan Government, they will start working with those companies because they are hired to have income. Them, they are workers to make that. For those people, it is a job. If you give them better jobs, security jobs, with better pay, it will lead to a peaceful afghanistan and also a good knowledge of manpower in afghanistan. These should not beat only forecasting should not be only forecasting, we have a lot of good things. Like mining. Mining is not only we have a lot of mining. Better, formuch example, in lets say, wheat. Productsg wheat, wheat , compared to others. Areas, andthose there are two things in afghanistan that are attractive for the businessman. Manpower, and cheap land. That is a concern for other countries of the world. Do you want to comment . Of course, i have mentioned before that first of all, my message for huge investors is lets help us go to afghanistan. We do have so many opportunities for you to invest in afghanistan. We do have the low level costs, we have a very talented young generation that are waiting for better careers. Have have mining, we do agriculture, many things that you can invested there. First of all, of course, you should be more focused for better security because we do want you to be there with better businessnts and better schedules. Thank you. Mr. Heuer, do you want to say some parting thoughts, and then we will have 20 minutes of q a . Thank you. Thank you panelists. It was a good discussion. Many different points of view. Summarize presume to this rich discussion, i would say that perhaps private Sector Development as with the overall aspiration for afghanistan is derived very much from addressing the security and governance concerns. And the International Community is and will support the afghan efforts in that direction insecurity, i am not in security, i am not qualified to comment. Governance as it relates to business and as a relates to taking advantage of the opportunities of afghanistan is pretty much in our lean, not exclusively. We cant wantsay it more than afghanistan does. That is also true anywhere. Neighborhood, including any country, we cant want it more than afghanistan does. Of that issue of political will, having been away from afghanistan for about four years is that in the National Unity government, we have a real partner who does have the political will in spite of all the challenges to move forward with things that make sense to afghanistan. Understandlways immediately wise something might make sense to afghanistan. But i do think we do understand that we have a real partner. And there was discussion here of different mechanisms, different contexts to theroaches governments effort and society effort to translate that political will to a reality that supports private Sector Development, they are there. We will support them. We are supporting them. As i the other donors. That is good news. Easy news. Ot there is a direct relationship the progress in governance, the progress insecurity, and the opportunity to get is this, local and foreign. I think it is it also makes sense to be practical about what the real opportunities are in this panel what the real opportunities are. In this panel, many sectors were mentioned. I would emphasize the overall extractives,the the ict that jeff was talking too that weld add are very important in our trade event in india. Not exclusively related to india but they are important. That is private and sec private sector involvement and health and education. And affordable private schools. Interesting and potentially lucrative businesses. There are networks of private schools in pakistan, india, and many other places. There is work going on in that realm in afghanistan. We are supporting it. There are a lot of Different Things that the private sector can do as security and governance evolve for the better. Findsvate Investment Opportunity there, that will help the security and as the people in government have the political will and as was said here, listen to the people who are actually in a position to invest in mining, or education, or producing fruits and vegetables. Then it will get right. It will not be quick. However, from the u. S. Government perspective, it is important. Conditions aced strategy, not with a limited timeframe, nor with limited ambitions. We have ambitions that track with the objective of afghanistan becoming a place that is stable enough to manage extremism within its borders. And all that we have been talking about is personal, its ability to handle that kind of thing. You all for the opportunity to participate in the panel, and congratulate all the members for your interesting and important comments. We all look forward to your comments and questions. Thank you. [applause] we are going to take two questions and then, a round of two questions. Can you please identify yourself and your affiliation . The gentleman here and the lady here . Thank you very much. Was ae is mike delaney, i Foreign Service officer for a long time and was with the u. S. Trade representative. Always involved in south asia and recently i am at the department of commerce. Somethingn relates to about external trade. I fully agree with the idea that you really need to be able to get your goods out of the country. If you cant, there is really little purpose in developing these industries. We haves struggled mightily without much success in getting a viable longterm Transit Route the border karachi which is the traditional route. Horror is a good idea. I wish everyone well. I think it has limitations in terms of longterm sustainability from a financial point of view. Toont see we talked traders going through job a heart, you see there is all kinds of problems. Most of them have serious issues with payment and everything else. To get back to something you said about doing everything we situation the trade done, can you outline what it is what efforts are underway to afghanpakistan trade, through the traditional routes . Thank you. Thank you very much. I am dr. Mindy riser, i work in the region. Imas is a i am a sociologist. I would like to ask you more about Women Entrepreneurs, the kind of businesses they are supporting. What happens to the young women who go to the universities in afghanistan . What are they studying . What are your plans for when they graduate . Are they staying in the country . Littleyou could talk a bit about working at home for some afghan women, this might be more desirable, so what kind of opportunities are there to do home work, and that might be with i. T. Or other kinds of enterprises. If you could elaborate on that, i think we would all like to hear. Ok. Could take a crack at the first question. A very good question. Thank you for it. Involved in the region, not just in one country. The issue you raised is a regional issue. That we can solve on our own. It is one that needs to be dealt with in a regional context. It is like one of those russian mature good dolls, you have the little one that is the core, and as you go out tickets bitter bigger but it looks sort of the same. This is one of those things. Way, we are involved as the United States in a south asia regional strategy. We are working with the to help create and appreciationanced borderbenefits of open for goods. Between and among the countries and the region, but particularly going to your question, to the afghanistanpakistan. Andne level, we financed managed through our implementing partners the construction of worldclass highways that connect the ring road with the induce highway. Which essentially connects europe with china and india going through central asia, afghanistan, pakistan. Have supported both in the creation of the transit trade agreement. And efforts to discuss and improve that and implement it. But as a work in progress with a long ways to go. We worked and are working with the private sector in both countries. I mentioned in my comments but two weeks ago, i was sitting with the leadership of the chambers of commerce, many of whom were old friends for from a years of service there, and they have ideas. They have influence that we do not have. Working at the broader diplomatic political level, working in the physical infrastructure level, we have also in terms of helping create better procedures for customs and border clearance, have had for years a project in afghanistan. We also have one in pakistan to help with that. We cant want this more than the people who are directly involved want it. So far, the collective will has led to a bit of an impasse. Of all that the results of what we are doing together with the various participants in the south asian region and its a viables will lead to answer to your question. Be a major source of opportunity for people. It will also be a major linkage that will be a peace builder over decades. The physical infrastructures there, the administrative the politicalre, will is expressed on both sides. We need to have a common will to get it done. We will be a part of that but we cant be the only one. I think there is also a based on to this that the hub of that affect that afghanistan serves and, afghanistan has to depend on a very diversified Transportation System to export to the region. It should not be dependent on roads, not only dependent on rail, it should have competition. I would like to see the Afghan Government create a competition where the air Transportation System is competing against their road system. If we build a noncorrupt or as little corruption as feasible in an air and Transportation System, that will put a positive pressure on road transportation, custom windows, all the wto requirements they have two for phil. I think that is a positive thing. In the india conference that we of thed, at the last day conference, it did not get publicity because they made it after the conference. They haveannounced direct flights from delhi to jalalabad, in addition, the turks have direct flights coming in. Morenk that will create competition. Those planes may be going in full but they are coming back empty. There is cargo capacity. But the u. S. Is doing on the charter air cargo side can open up a whole host of air cargo options that may be those economies can be improving because they are private sector led. Indian companies will want to get some of that shipment out cheaper than what it takes them to have some sit for two weeks to get into karachi. Or someplace. The question on women in the opportunities. Actually, women in afghanistan are involved with traditional and nontraditional things. They are involved with [indiscernible] they are doing different nontraditional businesses. Who are number of women more involved in the traditional businesses like craft, jewelry making. Other products like making the job, from the cultural side. Leading for women is modest. Think if you find a good there are [indiscernible] atthey are looking to work home. Unfortunately, they could not find a good market to fill them for a good price. Wait six months, one year to complete one carpet. They are going to sell that carpet for 600. Which is nothing. Count on the expenses, the Raw Materials and those things. We can also create jobs for jewelry, basic tools that they would be able to create and produce jewelry at home and then we need to create we need to find their market. Needob making, they do very basic tools of packaging for their jobs to produce them and they can bring them in the local market. Widen their tools of packaging and some training for the quality to make sure they have better products. Before we i mentioned have a very talented afghan female [indiscernible] if they create jobs that are online base, that will be more beneficial for them for their careers. Studying ato are the universitys, get jobs at different sectors, they are more looking forward to working in the back office. That is why they are looking to become a teacher, working with the government, and working with the private sector, not with marketing. Or want to work with the finance, hr, and admin departments. University, they are normally working with private, government, and Public Sectors. Of course, in the last two years, the number of jobs some of the number of Job Opportunities has increased. Ofhave a very huge number females looking for jobs right now. Two more questions. The lady over there, and the gentleman over here. Good afternoon. I am running a Construction Firm in afghanistan. My question will be for the investors. If anyone wants to invest in afghanistan, how much they will consider the afghan woman owned firms because so of anyenever i heard investors coming to afghanistan or they want to invest, no females are involved. I want to know how much they are going to be giving attention to afghan women . And also, regarding it waseneurials, reduced so badly. Only 2000 afghan women exist now. Afghan women entrepreneurials exist now. Thank you. Student and also doing an internship with a national Foreign Trade council. My question to mr. Jeff, i am very interested to hear your regarding if you are supposed to sell afghanistan to u. S. Businesses, what would be your selling point . Thank you very much. Question of Women Entrepreneurs, i dont know, do you want to answer that . The first question was about Women Entrepreneurs. I think it comes from a progressive change of attitude both within the women and within enoughiety to be brave to set up a business, even here. It is a rare thing. So many of them go bankrupt very quickly. Yet they are the biggest source of employment anywhere. Anyone to take on setting up a new business is a big challenge. It takes a brave soul to do that. For a woman in afghanistan to do that, it takes a much braver soul. And with some support. Probably unrealistic to expect to have a very large number of Women Entrepreneurs coming almost immediately in that context. The one initiative of which i am aware is the u. S. Promote program and the basic concept that there is that the people who are really going to solve take to the next level the issues of gender as they apply to women in afghanistan are the afghan women themselves. In the project and then focuses women who of 75,000 have at least a High School Education. That has evolved to also being some who do not have a High School Education or university. But basically, the women who have gotten the education and gone through all of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune it takes to get through school in afghanistan as a woman, then a period ofver years specific help to them in terms of training, in terms of mentoring, in terms of getting Civil Society government and business to then play a significant role, not subservient role, in society. And that over a period of time, those semi5000 women those 75,000 women are going to be in a good position to move it forward. That, our many different initiatives, some are supported by donors, some are private initiatives, some are government initiatives, but they up t groups of female female entrepreneurs. There was one that recently graduated from a business incubator, 17 Women Entrepreneurs with their businesses. That is not transformative of afghanistan, but it is important. [indiscernible] i was answering what i felt was the previous question. Moving to your question, if i might, and i am sure the other panelists will have something to say as well. Businesses come looking for Women Entrepreneurs other subsets that relate to things other than they could ability of that partner to do the business in hand. I dont think you get very far expecting international fornesses to come looking Women Owned Business partners, unless they women owned aspect of it is particularly advantageous to the business to be done. I have experienced in some countries in the middle east a and in mywhere i business role realize that the best slice of that market for partners was with Women Owned Businesses and women professionals. Because they were so far so theirore capable than male competitors. The male competitors had already gleamed all the good opportunities and these wonderful women and their businesses were sitting there struggling trying to get something going. Heading up a Foreign Company was able to link up with the women employees and the women businesses who were suppliers or partners and one way or another. They were so much better than the male ones who were available to me who did not really have the hunger to do well. They sort of expected to get the business. I think there are advantages i have seen that Women Owned Businesses can exploit. But it is not just because you are a woman or woman owned business. Have to have something more than that. The efforts we all have is to create that something more than that and to help people have those opportunities. Just to add, very quickly. There are a number of u. S. Businesses that will specifically try to encourage support Women Entrepreneurs in various areas. We currently have dean a powell working at the white house who was in charge for Goldman Sachs of a special program to mentor Women Entrepreneurs from around the world and give them new opportunities by a experience and networks. Ad not necessarily give them contract that gave them those opportunities. In the years i was in afghanistan, we had a number of businesses that were significantly expressing interest in the supporting Women Entrepreneurs because they knew how hard it was to the and entrepreneur in afghanistan. The number a number of them were in markets where they knew they could sell the products that the women were making. There would be an attractiveness to doing that. There is also, if you establish a reputation for honesty, not being corrupt, and doing good work, that also can work in the your of a company that created and led. There are challenges making that known. Finding the Networking Opportunities that let those qualities be known to others coming into the country. Ok. I have one comment. The way the afghan private sector economy is structured now. Now, about 6 ,ed 7 is large firms. There is virtually no mediumsized sector. My recommendation would be to identify strong sustained managed womenowned companies that have been around for 10 years and develop a targeted program that will go in and help them build the capacity to become a major Mediumsized Company in the country. That makes them more competitive with external partners, but it also makes them a better trade partner inside the country because from that mediumsized sector, you may be doing manufacturing of widgets that go to india or china. But within 10 years, based on every model that has been done for promotion, you should be able to defeat that Chinese Company on price and quality within 10 years of doing that work. That is how they build their economies. That is where the women have a role in afghanistan because to be more tend wellmanaged. I think i get back to what greg said. They have a whole bunch of other things within the country that they have to deal with, separate from the Business Aspect itself. The question on the private sector, basically, because i dont think you are a member of our association, but i am happy to have you join, i would divide the focus would be between frontier investors, those are people who have risked capital and want to commit their private investors. There are a number in washington ec that are investing in afghan in a prices. I dont want to identify them and this stuff they are in is very esoteric to me. But it works. They have been in afghanistan for over a decade, some of them. One of those frontier investors are very much appealed to the pitch that if you get in now, you can structure your deal much better than what you will be able to structure in 5, 6 years from now. Secondly, the government is interest and is open to concessionary negotiations on private sector transactions upscaled opportunities. Important. Ally the bigger the scale, the more likelihood i can make my money back faster which means i dont have to be in the country to get my money back. And my longerterm investment is gravy for me. Theyrontier investors, already know who the main afghan players are in the sectors they want to operate in. Their biggest problem is that they might not be able to get that Afghan Company to partner with them. That is a different issue but can talk about separately. On the mining, energy, ict, and business sectors, my pitch would be is if you focus on the regional players, regional investors, that have existing operations, all around afghanistan but not in afghanistan, those players will be interested in the marketing play that they have potentially of going in afghanistan. Cheaper labor, access to these regional transportation grids that they may be could not get going anywhere else, maybe even reduce corruption levels on the past brews. Now they can expedite product out in a different way that they could before where maybe they had to do a rail to a truck, to an airport. Or Something Like that. For mining, mining seems the afghan has a huge problem. Part of it is the government does not control most of the country. As a result, you are negotiating transactions with the security of that investment and for these mining investments, you have to put a lot of capital in early. You are not going to get an investor to do that unless there is an integrated negotiation between the National Government come regional governors, and maybe some other players that are critical to that investment. I dont think it is impossible. It has been done in other places. About colombia and the integrated investments that went into columbia after they were able to get stability going. I think there is models. Ambassador wayne talked about that of what we can use and what we should use. Ok. We are right on time. I want to thank everybody for coming in for an excellent panel. And come again to our next event. Thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] minnesota democrat senator al franken spoke to reporters today for the first time after he was accused of sexual harassment. The News Conference in the Senate Office building an f in over five minutes. Lasted just over five minutes. Al