On 15 December 2016, The Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) organized a roundtable to discuss the 6th Ministerial conference of the Heart of Asia/Istanbul process which was held in Armistar, India on 3-4 December, 2016. Ambassador of India, Mr Vohra and Mr Amir Ramin, Director of Regional Cooperation of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs were the speakers. Ambassador Vohra, described the recent Heart of Asia conference as a step forward and said that participants were able to discuss important regional issues including fighting against terrorism and enhancing regional cooperation. According to him, one of the most important achievements of the conference, was the success in “naming & shaming” of terrorists and their sponsor.
Mr. Ramin assessed the recent Heart of Asia conference as very successful. He stressed the importance of better understanding of the process of the Heart of Asia, which is not an organization, but it is a political process to support existing organizations and a platform to discuss issues of concern and interest to the region and our external partners. Ms. Humaira Ludin Etimady, an adviser to the former president Hamid Karzai, moderated the roundtable. A number of government officials, academia, civil society activists and journalists participated in this event. The event followed by question and answer session at the end. It is worth mentioning that AISS conducted a research on the Heart of Asia process, which is available on AISS website (below link)
http://www.aiss.af/the-heart-of-asia-process/