Tehran, Feb 26, (IRNA) The 12th Tripartite Commission Meeting (TCM) on the Joint Program for Voluntary Repatriation of Afghan Refugees from Iran is to be held in Mashhad on Tuesday, February 27, 2007.

The governments of Iran and Afghanistan and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are the three parties to the meeting, a press release issued by the UNHCR office in Tehran said Monday.

Topping the agenda is the renewal of the current tripartite agreement which is due to expire March 20, 2007. The parties will assess progress and developments in the voluntary repatriation process which began in 2002. They will discuss approaches and modalities of the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees, as well as obstacles to repatriation. The participants will also analyze the sharp decrease in the number of returnees in 2006.

The Iranian government will be represented by Ahmad Hosseini, advisor to interior minister and Director General of the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs, the Afghan delegation is to be headed by Abdul Ghader Ahadi, Deputy Minister of Refugees and Returnees (MORR) and UNHCR Headquarters will be represented by Ms Janet Lim, Director in charge of the Afghan Operation. UNHCR office in Tehran will be headed by its representative, Sten A Bronee.

At the 11th Tripartite Commission Meeting held on October 9, 2006 in Geneva, the parties agreed that the days of mass return were over and innovative approaches were necessary to sustain the return momentum. On that occasion, an agreement on joint projects was signed between the Interior Minister, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi and the High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres. The projects provided for vocational training, education and medical assistance to the remaining Afghan refugees both in and outside the camps in Iran. Preliminary preparations for implementing these projects have begun in different Iranian provinces.

It is hoped that the Iranian and Afghan authorities will find more durable solutions to the problems of the 915,000 remaining Afghan refugees, most of whom have lived in Iran for over 20 years, the press release added.

While thanking the Iranian government for its exceptional hospitality towards Afghan and Iraqi refugees, Bronee said, "I look forward to our continued support and cooperation for finding long term solutions for the refugees in Iran."