Read the UK's statement on the Paris Conference 2008 and David Miliband's media interviews.

Read the Paris Conference declaration issued by President Nicolas Sarkozy, President Hamid Karzai, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Progress

The Paris Conference follows on from similar events held in Tokyo 2002, Berlin 2004 and London 2006. Progress has been made in Afghanistan:

• first Parliamentary elections in 36 years were held in September 2005
• 27% of the seats in the Lower House of Parliament are now held by women
• between 2002/3 and 2005/6 the economy has grown by 42%
• almost six million children, a third of which are girls, are now in school compared to 1 million in 2001
• 82% of Afghans now have access to basic healthcare, compared to 9% in 2002.

For more details please see the UN fact-sheets.

Afghan National Development Strategy (ANDS)

The UK congratulates the Government of Afghanistan on the completion of its first full Afghan National Development Strategy (ANDS). The international community supports the Government of Afghanistan in taking forward its implementation of the ANDS.

Aid

The UK is on track to spend all its aid pledges in the timeframe promised. DFID puts 80% of its money through Afghan government systems to help build Afghan capacity and to spend aid as effectively as possible.

Strong systems have been put in aid to ensure that UK aid is not wasted. Most of DFID's aid is channelled through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), managed by the World Bank, independently audited and only paid out following proof of legitimate expenditure.

Counter-narcotics in Afghanistan

Last year poppy free provinces in Afghanistan doubled to 13. We hope to see further progress this year. Substantial investment has been made in rural development, and significant efforts have been invested in promoting new crops, such as saffron in Herat province. DFID funded £3m between 2004-2007 to support research into a range of alternative high value crops including mint and saffron.

International co-ordination

The UK welcome's UNAMA's enhanced mandate for coordinating international civilian work in Afghanistan, and strongly support the leadership of Kai Eide, the UN Special Representative.