China’s Special Envoy on Afghan Affairs, Ambassador Deng Xijun, called on Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood. Senior officials from both sides were present on the occasion.
The Foreign Secretary shared Pakistan’s perspective on Pakistan-Afghanistan bilateral relations, Afghanistan’s peace and reconciliation process, and Afghanistan-China-Pakistan trilateral dialogue. The Foreign Secretary reaffirmed the importance Pakistan attached to a peaceful, stable, united, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan.Reiterating Pakistan’s strong commitment to a political settlement in Afghanistan, he underscored Pakistan’s hopes for early resumption of the stalled peace process.
The Foreign Secretary appreciated China’s positive contributions to Afghanistan’s national development and assured of Pakistan’s continued support in this context. Noting that China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue provided a firm platform for strengthening trilateral cooperation in diverse areas, he highlighted the recent projects undertaken in its auspices including the Under-19 cricket tournament and junior diplomats capacity-building workshop. The Foreign Secretary said that Pakistan looked forward to continuing its active role within this important trilateral framework.
Special Envoy Ambassador Xijun said that close cooperation between China and Pakistan was essential to ensuring that the Afghan peace and reconciliation process continued to move forward constructively. He noted that Pakistan had an important and unique role in the promotion of Afghan peace process and China looked forward to working closely with Pakistan in this regard. The two sides agreed to continue their mutual engagement bilaterally as well as in the context of 4-party talks.
