India, Afghanistan Signed Four Cooperation Pacts

India and Afghanistan on 12 November 2012 signed four agreements to cooperate in areas of social welfare, fertilizer, coal mining and youth affairs.

President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai was in India on a four day visit from 9 November 2012 to12 November 2012.

During his visit a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by External Affair Minister Salman Khurshid and Afghanistan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul under which India will provide grants to Afghanistan to implement small development projects through local bodies, community organisations, charitable trusts and educational institutions.

The three other Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) signed can be listed as

• The second MoU relates to fertilizer sector and was signed by Salman Khurshid and Afghanistan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani.
• The third MoU aims at cooperation in youth affairs which was signed by India's external affairs minister and Aghanistan Minister of Information and Culture Sayed Makhdoom Raheenis.

• The fourth MoU was on the development of coal resources and was signed by India's Coal Minister Prakash Jaiswal and Afghanistan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani.

Both the countries also decided to intensify the cooperation with a special focus on deepening their economic engagement in areas ranging from agriculture and small businesses to mining and infrastructure.