Afghanistan will be the central focus of the “Forum for the Future” opening this evening in Marrakesh, Morocco, under the co-chairmanship of Minister Frattini. Chaired by Italy and Morocco, the Forum, whose participants include the foreign ministers of the G8 and representatives of the so-called Greater Middle East, will offer an opportunity for initial encounter on Afghanistan. Now in its fourth edition, the Forum grew out of an idea proposes by George Bush’s at the 2004 Sea Island G8 summit, and aims to support democratic reforms that include freedom of expression and legality in the civil society and, at the same time, to aid socio-economic development in that area.
Participants include not only government representatives but also members of the civil society such as NGOs, research centres and human rights activists. For this reason also Italy is heavily committed to re-launching the Forum which, among other things, is the only dialogue platform for the governments that comprise it and the civil society.