Ladies and gentlemen, the Security Council mission to Afghanistan has just arrived and we are looking forward to very interesting talks in Kabul and in the provinces.

The purpose of the visit is to deliver quite a few messages. Firstly a message to the Afghan people that Afghanistan is high on the agenda of the Security Council and that the Security Council and the international community supports the reconstruction process in Afghanistan.

The second message goes to the Government of Mr. Karzai. The Security Council supports his efforts to implement the Bonn Agreement and in particular we are looking forward to see developed a new constitution and the preparations going on for the elections scheduled next year in June.

The third message the Security Council would like to give is to the factional and provincial leaders to cooperate fully with the central government to implement the Bonn Agreement because otherwise we will not have the necessary security to do the preparations especially for the elections.

Then we will have talks of course with ISAF and UNAMA, with our friend Mr. Brahimi who has done such a fantastic job here in Afghanistan. We will also have talks with NGOs to see how far the efforts have gone to build a civil society and to make sure that human rights are being observed in the process of rebuilding this country politically and economically.

_______________