China pledges US$150 mln aid package to Afghanistan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 01, 2004

China pledges US$150 mln aid package to Afghanistan

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The Chinese government pledged on Wednesday a series of measures to help rebuild Afghanistan,including an ongoing 150-million-US-dollar aid package, reduction of due debts owed by the Afghan government and 1 million dollars in material assistance.

Addressing the International Conference on Afghanistan, ForeignMinister Li Zhaoxing said China will offer 15 million dollars to Afghanistan this year, following 47 million dollars in aid last year, under a 2002 commitment of 150 million dollars in donations within five years. "The rest will soon be put in place," Li said.

He said China has decided to "cancel all the Afghan government's due debts" and signed an agreement to the effect with the Afghangovernment during the conference.

Li said China will offer material assistance worth 1 million dollars for the upcoming election in Afghanistan, including tents,photocopiers and lighting equipment. China will also engage in local police training and regional drug control cooperation there,he added.

Referring to the construction of infrastructure in Afghanistan,Li said the project of Kabul Republic Hospital contracted by Chinais going on smoothly and so is an irrigation project on the ParwanRiver.

The foreign minister said China will encourage more domestic companies to open businesses in Afghanistan. He also pledged to help train Afghan diplomats and professionals in other fields.

Chinese FM affirms progress in Afghan restoration

Li said that Afghanistan has made progress inrebuilding the country under the Bonn Agreement.

"From the interim government to the present transitional one, from the Emergency Loya Jirga to the present constitutional body, from the adoption of the constitution to the upcoming elections, the Bonn process is well organized," Li said at an international conference on Afghanistan, opened here Wednesday to assess progress in Afghan reconstruction and gather more aid for the war-torn country.

The Bonn process was launched at a similar international conference on Afghanistan's reconstruction in November 2001.

Li stressed that an early and proper solution to the Afghan issue is important to regional stability and development.

"The Bonn process is a development path that would fit the national conditions of Afghanistan," Li said. "If the situation takes a turn for the worse, it is the Afghan people that will suffer."

Li pointed out that Afghanistan still has many challenges ahead,among them "insecurity, ethnic and factional disputes, slow economic reconstruction and diminishing international attention are all the more challenging."

He urged both the Afghan people and the international communityto "maintain the spirit of the Bonn process" and "continue our efforts along such path."

Unity is the key to peace in Afghanistan, and independence is also important for the Afghan people, Li said, adding that "Afghanistan's national situation and the choices of the Afghan people should be respected."

"The top task is to establish a broadly based and representative government, which accommodates the interests of allethnic groups through free and fair elections," he emphasized.

Coordination is another guarantee for peace in Afghanistan, he said. A unique feature of the Bonn process is the partnership between the Afghan government and the international community, Li said.

"Continued support should be given to the Bonn process and commitments should be honored in order to achieve more concrete results," he said.

Li reiterated China's support for the role of the United Nations in the Bonn process and said that China would always be a friend of the Afghan people.

"The Afghans can always find a trustworthy neighbor and a friend. That is China and the Chinese people," the minister said.

About 700 delegates from 56 countries and numerous international organizations, including the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, are attending the two-day conference in Berlin.

The previous two conferences of this kind were both held in Bonn, in 2001 and 2002 respectively.

Source: Xinhua

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