New Delhi, February 24
The visiting Afghan President and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today decided to give a high-level direction to Indo-Afghan relations and as a testimony of this it was decided that Indian Airlines will start direct flight from New Delhi to Kabul from March 27.

The details of the Delhi-Kabul flight and its frequency would be worked out soon.

India utilised President Karzai’s visit to make some more announcements aimed at ameliorating the Afghan people’s lot, who have undergone turbulent times for the past more than a quarter century. These are as follows:

• India’s commitment to fund and execute the construction of the power transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul as well as a sub-station at Kabul. This project is aimed to address the problem of acute power shortage that prevails in the Afghan capital. Though the Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul power transmission line is more than 450-km-long, India is executing some 200 km of it, the rest being done by the Asian Development Bank.
  
  
• India to undertake expansion of cold storage capacity at Kandahar.
  
  
• The Indian side also indicated its readiness to offer for community development programmes that will generate alternate employment in opium growing areas. A pilot project would be identified to be started by the Government of India in such an area.

The two countries signed two memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the fields of civil aviation and media and information. The MoU on civil aviation is aimed at building capacity and strengthening institutional structure of Afghanistan’s civil aviation sector which would include training in areas of airport management, air traffic control and navigational aids, including safety and maintenance of aircraft.

The MOU on cooperation in media and information calls for greater interaction between the mediapersons and radio and TV organisations of the two countries.

Under India’s assistance programme, the Government of India has completed the work on TV satellite uplink at Kabul and downlink at 10 provincial capitals in Afghanistan, which are already operational. Work has commenced on restoration or augmentation of TV hardware in Jalalabad and Nangarhar province, the foreign office said. India will be taking up the next phase of augmentation of TV coverage though additional satellite uplinks and downlinks.

The two delegations met first in a restricted format for about half an hour. This was followed by another 40- minutes-long discussion between the two delegations and then by a signing ceremony. After this the Prime Minister hosted a working lunch for the two delegations.