Vancouver - Ambassador Hassan Soroosh participated as a keynote speaker at an event entitled “Afghanistan, Regional Cooperation and International Partnership: Prospects for Self-reliance, Peace and Stability" at the University of British Columbia. The event was organized under the Greater Central Asia Initiative at the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs with the participation of scholars, policy experts, students as well as representatives from the veterans' community.

Ambassador Soroosh spoke about the ongoing efforts in four major areas of democratic process; peace process; self-reliance agenda; and regional cooperation and connectivity. He highlighted some of the achievements and success stories including in the area of women’s empowerment. Ambassador Soroosh paid tribute to all those men and women from the Canadian Armed Forces who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan alongside the Afghan security and defense forces and thanked the veterans who attended the event for their service and their continued commitment to Afghanistan. Ambassador Soroosh also expressed his gratitude to Canada for staying actively engaged in Afghanistan and stressed the importance of continued development cooperation and greater trade and investment between the two countries in the future.

Other speakers in the event included Mr. Zahir Faqiri, Director of GCAI at UBC; Dr. Shashi Enarth, Graduate Program Director, MPPGA; Ms. Aida Ghafoor, Member of the Afghan Students Association-UBC; Professor Shelley Hymel, Faculty of Education and Mr. Tim Laidler, Faculty of Education-UBC. The Q&A session was moderated by Professor Yves Tiberghien from UBC.

At this event, Afghanistan Consul General, Mohammad Salem Wahdat and other Consulate members accompanied Ambassador Soroosh.