Saturday, December 03, 2016
Kabul (BNA) President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani met with Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuanyou of the People’s Republic of China and his accompanying delegation. In the meeting, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of China presented the best wishes of the President of the People’s Republic of China to President Ghani and lauded the efforts and measures of the Government of Afghanistan in ensuring peace in the country, expanding relations, regional cooperation and counter-terrorism. Kong Xuanyou said that Afghanistan is of vital importance for the economic belt of China. He recommended initiation of trilateral discussions involving Afghanistan, China, and Pakistan over Peshawar, Kabul and Quetta railways as well as economic corridors and regional cooperation. Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of China considered terrorism a major threat for the region and the world, and urged joint action to counter it. He said that in addition to fulfilling the military assistance commitments with Afghanistan, China is also considering future cooperation, which will be announced soon. Underscoring good relations between the two countries, he stated that Afghanistan-China ties are friendly and the People’s Republic of China will continue its assistance with Afghanistan in different areas. He added that China will speed up its infrastructural activities, especially in house-building projects in Afghanistan. President Ghani expressed gratitude to President of China for his best wishes and the good relations between the two countries. He asked Mr. Kong Xuanyou to convey his best wishes to the President of the People’s Republic of China. Underscoring the importance of Sino-Afghan relations in different domains, the President said that the People and Government of Afghanistan appreciate the cooperation of People’s Republic of China. He added that Afghanistan is striving to further expand friendly ties and good relations with China. The President called terrorism a serious threat for Afghanistan, China, region and the entire world and added that besides bravely fighting all terrorist groups without any distinction, the National Defense and Security Forces of Afghanistan prevent those groups that carry out terrorist activities in China and cooperate with the Government of China in this regard. Thanking assistant minister of foreign affairs of China for his recommendation, President Ghani said that discussions on cooperation over transit and economic corridors is to be initiated tri-laterally, and then Iran and other Central Asian Countries including Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are included. He added, “We have always maintained political and economic relations separate from each other since economic cooperation stands for the benefits of all nations and peoples of the region.” President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said that Afghanistan wants to have good ties and friendly relations with all its neighbors. He added that we will connect China with Iran and Chabahar Port with Gwadar Port via railways. He added that we want to connect all countries of the region as well as China, Europe and Central Asia, and transform Afghanistan into a hub of cooperation and connectivity in the region. The President said that Afghanistan is the most conducive route for electricity transmission from Central Asia to East Asia, and asked the Government of China for cooperation with Afghanistan in construction of dams and other electricity generation facilities to enable Afghanistan to, not only transmit electricity but also generate and export it. At the end of this meeting, assistant minister of foreign affairs of China invited President Ghani to come to China on an official visit. President Ghani accepted the invitation with thanks and said that he will visit China at an opportune moment.
