We, the Ministers and Delegates from the g7+ countries, met during the 4th g7+ Ministerial Meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, on the 23rd and 24th of March 2016.

We applaud the progress made by all countries towards the Peacebuilding and Statebuilding Goals. We congratulate the people and governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in overcoming the Ebola crisis of 2015. We congratulate the Central African Republic (CAR) and Togo for their successful elections and we look forward to Somalia’s upcoming electoral process. Despite progress, numerous challenges are faced by member countries. We stand in solidarity with the people of Burundi and reaffirm our commitment to see stability re-established. We stand in solidarity with the people of Yemen and support the ongoing peace process.

We recognize the signing of a peace agreement in South Sudan and encourage its implementation. Furthermore, we support Afghanistan’s call for a result-oriented regional cooperation to ensure the success of the Afghan peace process and we support Timor-Leste’s call for recognition of its legitimate rights on border delimitations, under international law.

 We reiterate our resolve to reconciliation and peace as cornerstones for resilience and support political dialogue to that end. We commit to mobilizing influential personalities from within the g7+ to help in promoting peacemaking and peacebuilding. We wish to collaborate with the United Nations and other actors on conflict prevention in our countries. We believe that Civil Society is an important actor in restoring trust between states and citizens and in promoting peace and reconciliation. We call upon Civil Society to constructively engage with the government and other national actors in helping reach inclusive political settlements. 

As we remain convinced that sound economic foundations with a specific focus on job creation, women’s and youth empowerment and private sector development are essential to sustain peace and resilience, we call upon development partners to help g7+ countries in strengthening these foundations. This requires more investment in infrastructure and skills development as critical enablers for economic growth. We call upon multi-laterals and in particular the World Bank Group to enhance their support to private sector development in g7+ countries, through country specific reforms and effective implementation of existing policies. 

In line with the New Deal principles, development aid needs to unleash the economic potential of our countries and promote self-reliance. Development aid must be allocated by the recipient countries and 2 spent through county systems. This will ensure country ownership of development. We acknowledge the findings and recommendations of the Independent Review, re-commit to the implementation of the New Deal and reaffirm partnership with the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding. 

We welcome the launch of the 2030 Agenda and commit to contextual implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in our member countries. In particular, we commit to prioritize and jointly report on progress against the agreed list of SDG indicators through the portal established in the g7+ Secretariat and using the New Deal principles to achieve the SDGs. We will continue sharing experiences through “Fragile-to-Fragile” cooperation in peacebuilding and statebuilding under the spirit of volunteerism and solidarity. 

We strongly urge the United Nations, in particular UNDP, to mobilize support to the g7+ and to host a high level session on the SDGs in New York. 

We endorse the 2014-15 Annual Report and the 2016-17 Work Plan and entrust the g7+ Secretariat to facilitate its implementation. 

We conclude our meetings in Kabul, Afghanistan, with deep appreciation of Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for generously hosting this 4th g7+ Ministerial meeting. 

We look forward to the next Ministerial meeting in 2017.