A brief report of the business trip of Mr. Mirwais Popal,A member of the management board of Ibn-E-Sina Research & Development Organization,To Kabul
Mr. Popal was on a business trip to Kabul, starting on July 19 of this year. The mains goals of his business trip, amongst the others, were:
To have meetings with the officials of the IEA.
To have meetings with Afghan academics.
To manage the affairs of ISRDO’s local office in Kabul.
1- Meeting with the General Director of the Office of Deputy Prime Minister of IEA on political affaires:
This meeting was held on July the 22nd 2024 in the office of Mr. Mawlawi Zakir. This meeting was attended by Mirwais Popal, Mohammad Din Shah Shinwari and Masoud Barakzai from ISRDO and honorable Mawlawi Zakir from the political Deputy Office, Ruhollah Zakhilwal, deputy of the office and two others.
Mr. Mirwais Popal addressed the following topics:
* To organize the 2nd annual conference of ISRDO in Dubai, the United Arabic Emirates, in the beginning of December 2024. The main focus of this conference will be on presentation of priority projects of ministry of energy and water of IEA to attract investments for the energy sector of Afghanistan.
* To organize an the International Conference on Alternative Livelihoods under the leadership of IEA and support of Mr. Prof. Arlacchi, the former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, in cooperation with ISRDO to attract financial support for those of Afghan formers who stopped with cultivation of opium poppy
Mawlawi Zakir stated:
* He promised to assist in easing the visa issues and help to set the meetings with the IEA officials.
* He proposed to hold the ISRDO 2nd annual conference in Kabul and praised ISRDO’s work and future plans.
2- Meeting with the Ministry of Energy and Water:
On July the 23rd 2024, ISRDO’s members met with Mr. Dr. Anwarzai, the advisor of the Ministry of Energy and Water in his office. Mr. Mirwais Popal informed Mr. Anwarzai about the future programs of ISRDO and its upcoming 2nd annual conference in Dubai to be mainly focused on on presentation of priority projects of ministry of energy and water of IEA to attract investments for the energy sector of Afghanistan. Therefore he requested Mr. Anwarzai to actively prepare for the mentioned conference by the authorized representative of the Ministry of Energy and Water. Besides completion of the projects that are under construction like Qush Tape, Canals, dams, and solar energy were also discussed.
Mr. Popal also asked Mr. Anwarzai to facilitate in setting up an online meeting in the coming days between HE the minister of energy and water of IEA or with his deputy and Mr. Eng. Hassanzadah.
Dr. Anwarzai supported the work of this institution and added:
* I will inform them and send the invitation letter of the conference to the minister’s office.
* In the past two years about 2,000 people and institutions have received work permits from this ministry, but in practice, 18 to 20 institutions have worked or are in the process of working.
* He will discuss the online meeting with the Deputy Minister.
* He also assured the preparation of the training course for the inspection staff of this ministry.
3- Meeting with HE the Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock:
A meeting was held with HE the Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock in the Minister’s office on July the 28th 2024. Later Mr. Mirwais Popal gave brief information about ISRDO’s work, goals and the organization, support and cooperation of the economic conference in Dubai.
The minister asked us to talk about the practical work, otherwise they have good plans in economic fields. He also mentioned the Economic Commission and said that Mawlawi Sahib Baradar will decide on the organization of the conference and other cooperation with organization.
4- Meeting with Honorable Qari Ruhollah in the office of HE the Deputy Prime Minister on Economic affairs:
After the welcome, Mr. Popal thanked for the meeting and gave information about ISRDO’S activities to the officials present in the meeting.
He shared his proposal and information about the economic conference and handed over ISRDO’s invitation letter to them. If possible, he also requested for an online conference of Mr. Hassanzadah Sahib with the Honorable Haji Mullah Sahib.
Qari Ruhollah praised ISRDO’s works and added:
* We will share the invitation letter with Honorable Haji Mullah Sahib (Mullah Baradar).
* Who should attend the conference and where will the expenses be paid?
Honorable Popal said in response: If Honorable Haji Mullah Sahib himself participates, it will be very good and we will cover conference expenses, IEA will finance the travel expenses of its esteemed members from its own budget.
5- Meeting with HE Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs:
On August the 2nd 2024, a meeting was held with HE Mawlawi Sahib Abdul Kabir, the Deputy Prime Minister of IEA for Political Affairs. The meeting which was held in an open space in the presence of many other officials, the following topics were briefly but effectively discussed:
* Honorable Popal Sahib introduced his team and thanked the Honorable Deputy Prime Minister for giving the time.
* He shared comprehensive information about the upcoming economic conference.
* He shared the desire of the former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations for Alternative Livelihood Conference (helping Afghans).
Respectful Mawlawi Sahib expressed his opinion in a very soft tone:
* Welcome again. I appreciate your work. It would be better if this conference was held in Kabul but Popal Sahib said in response, Dubai is a suitable place for foreign Afghan investors regarding visa issues.
* Honorable Mawlawi Sahib Abdul Kabir is the head of the commission that was formed earlier and now 28 government institutions are members. He said: If the convener of the conference (Mr. Pino Arlacchi) comes to Kabul again to talk to him, it will be good.
6- Meeting with the Ministry of Public Health:
ISRDO’s team had a meeting with Dr. Mirwais Ahmadzai, the head of the Policy and Plan, Dr. Kakar, consultant and two other employees at the Ministry of Public Health on August the 06th 2024.
On behalf of ISRDO, Mr. Popal thanked the Ministry of Public Health and presented the following three topics to the meeting:
1- Many Afghan doctors living abroad want to come home and serve their countrymen. Does the IEA have any special program in this regard?
Dr. Ahmadzai, the honorable head of Policy and Plan said:
* For this purpose, the Jamhoriat hospital is basically being renovated according to a decree, its work will be completed this year. This hospital will also have a guest house for visiting doctors.
* The foreign doctors who come to the country will be paid 500,000 Afghanis per month.
* A group has been formed for their integration and Dr. Sahib Qayoumi, who lives in America, has been named as its leader, you can contact him.
２- Mr. Popal asked about the rules and regulations for health workers and patients, and about fees and medicine prices.
Dr. Ahmedzai said:
According to the law services in government hospitals are free, but some hospitals charge a small fee and charge a small percentage of medicine. The concept of Jamhoriat hospitals will be implemented in provinces one by one. Also, a cancer commission has been established, everyone can contact them and offer their services.
3- Popal Sahib mentioned the efforts and work of ISRDO’s expert on the electronic health card for Afghans.
Dr. Ahmadzai said in this regard:
* Here, some organizations such as Sweden HealthNet started this work, but it did not become common. There are problems.
* If you can find fund, that would be great; we don’t have budget at the moment.
* Another participant said: The health card is a solution, but a lot of work should be done. He proposed to have an online meeting with an expert who has done a lot of work on this issue; he will share his experience with you through a zoom meeting. This proposal was accepted and their expert committee will evaluate it.
7- Meeting with the Ministry of Information and Culture:
On August the 07th 2024, team members of ISRDO met with Mr. Bakhtiar Zazai Deputy Secretary of Ministry of Information and culture.
Mirwais Popal, Mohammad Din Shah Shinwari, Masoud Barakzai and Jawad Nikzad from ISRDO participated in this meeting. Mr. Popal, member of management board of ISRDO asked the leadership of this ministry to participate in the ISRDO’S upcoming conference in Dubai which will be held in the beginning of December 2024 and then Jawad Nikzad gave information about signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Information and Culture which is currently in progress.
Also, Mr. Zazai considered the organization of this conference important and said that the leadership of his ministry will participate in this conference after evaluating the technical issues and will discuss the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ISRDO.
8- Meeting with HE the Minister of Urban Development and Housing:
On August the 07th 2024, team member of ISRDO met with His Excellency the Minister of Urban Development and Housing Mr. Mawlawi Hamdullah Nomani.
This meeting was attended by Mirwais Popal, Masoud Barekzai, Jawad Nikzad and Saifurahman Eshaqzai, from ISRDO and Mr. Mawlawi Hamdullah Nomani, the honroable minister of Urban Development and Housing of IEA and several employees of that ministry.
ISRDO invited the leadership of the ministry to participate in the upcoming conference of ISRDO which will be held in Dabai in the beginning of December of 2024.
Also, the members of ISRDO presented information about the progress of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with this ministry and insisted that the technical aspects of this MoU will be finalized in the coming days.
Honorable Nomani considered the holding of the conference important and said that considering the role of this ministry, he will participate.
Ibn-E-Sina Research & Development Organization
Abbreviations:
ISRDO: Ibn-E-Sina Research & Development Organization
IEA: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
