The first International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan was held in Tokyo in 2002. The second conference was held in Berlin in 2004, the third in London in 2006, and the fourth conference will be held in Paris next June. The aim is for us to work together while building on the experience that has been acquired over the past six years. The donors as well as the Afghan government recognize that a number of lessons have been learned. We acknowledge the existing problems and we want to strengthen the United Nations coordination as well as the coordination between donors and the Afghan government. We want to find real, practical solutions to the problems.
As I said, the National Development Strategy that we will be unveiling in Paris will provide a detailed explanation of our security and socio-economic development goals for Afghanistan for the next five years. We would also like to discuss subjects such as drugs and regional problems with the international community. I believe that it will be a very important conference. We think that our friends around the table all realize that after six or seven years, we must find some other way to deal with situations where we have made little progress or have had little success. It is with that in mind that we will be attending the Paris conference.