The first three Afghan experts were recruited from European Union
(EU) countries under the Professional Afghan Expatriate Programme -
EU (PAEP-EU) for placement into senior public sector jobs in Kabul
this week.

The three will serve as Senior Advisor at the Ministry of
Counter Narcotics; Communications Officer for the Afghan National
Development Strategy; and Management and Cooperative Advisor at the
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, respectively. 

The PAEP-EU programme is administered by IOM in close
coordination with the Afghan Independent Administrative Reform and
Civil Service Commission (IARCSC) and funded by the European
Commission. 

Its objective is to contribute to the long-term stability and
development of the country through the deployment of 17 highly
qualified Afghan expatriates living in EU member states who will
share their skills and expertise in various ministries and public
institutions during their assignments of up to one year in
Afghanistan.

Communications Officer Hamed Ahmad Eqbal is an established
journalist with years of professional experience in the United
Kingdom. "Journalism in Afghanistan is still at the preliminary
stage. I would like to establish a code of conduct for reporters,
enrich the quality of broadcasting and thus ultimately contribute
to the development of our country," he says.  

The programme tries to bring in expertise that Afghan ministries
and other public institutions need but which cannot be sourced
locally.

The PAEP-EU builds on the achievements of IOM's earlier
EU-Return of Qualified Afghans programme which facilitated the
progressive transfer of knowledge of 150 Afghan expatriate
professionals from nine EU countries during 2003 - 2005.

Additional PAEP-EU candidates will be identified and confirmed
by the end of May.

For further information, please visit "paragraph-link-no-underline" href="http://www.paep-eu.org" target=
"_blank" title="">http://www.paep-eu.org or contact:

Althea Rivas

IOM Kabul

Tel + 93 (0) 700 486 728

E-mail: "mailto:info-paep-eu@iom.int">info-paep-eu@iom.int 

Katsui Kaya

Tel. +93 (0) 700 185 961

E-mail "mailto:kkaya@iom.int">kkaya@iom.int