China thanks the delegation of Spain for convening this open meeting on the situation in Afghanistan and thanks Special Representative of the Secretary-General Yamamoto, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Mr. Yury Fedotov, and Ambassador Gerard Van Bohemen for their briefings.

China applauds the unceasing efforts of the Afghan Government to safeguard national stability, promote national reconciliation and advance economic development. On the other hand, we should be cognizant of the fact that Afghanistan still faces grave political, economic and security challenges. The road to peace and development remains long, and the mission remains arduous. It is China’s hope that the international community will continue to treat the issue of Afghanistan as a priority and will continue its support and aid to Afghanistan.

The first prong of such an effort involves drastically improving the security situation in Afghanistan. The international community should lend strong support to the capacity-building of the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces, so as to shore up Afghanistan’s independent defense and counter-terrorism capabilities and effectively tackle terrorism, transnational crime and drug trafficking. We hope that the rest of the region will continue to cooperate with Afghanistan in the security sector so as to jointly build a secure regional environment.

The second prong involves steadfastly advancing the process of national reconciliation in Afghanistan. The international community should spare no effort to support an inclusive, Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process and support the efforts of the parties concerned to settle their differences through dialogue. The quadrilateral coordination group, which is made up of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States, will continue to play a positive role in galvanizing that process.

The third prong involves supporting Afghanistan’s development guided by Afghanistan’s own initiatives. China commends the Afghan Government for drawing up the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework. We hope that the international community will honor its aid pledges and provide targeted assistance in line with the development strategy drawn up by the Government of Afghanistan and based on the country’s actual needs on the ground.

The fourth prong involves helping Afghanistan integrate into regional economic cooperation. Just recently, the General Assembly unanimously adopted resolution 71/9, on the situation in Afghanistan. That resolution refers to the importance of the Belt and Road initiative — the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Twenty-first century Maritime Silk Road — to the promotion of Afghanistan’s economic development and regional cooperation. We hope that the countries concerned will work, as outlined in the resolution, to strengthen regional economic cooperation and connectivity and help Afghanistan join the mighty tide of regional development.

China commends the work of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and supports the Mission’s positive role in helping Afghanistan safeguard its national security, promote economic development and improve its governance capacities. We will continue to support the work of UNAMA and Special Representative of the Secretary-General Yamamoto.

China has been consistently supported the reconciliation process, characterized by Afghan leadership and ownership, as well as Afghanistan’s capacity-building in the security sector to combat terrorism and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s positive role in this area.

China steadfastly supports Afghan integration in regional development cooperation and will work with the Afghan Government to implement the Chinese-Afghan memorandum of understanding on the One Belt, One Road initiative and to strengthen our cooperation in areas such as business, trade, energy and infrastructure.

China is ready to work with the rest of the international community and continue our tireless endeavor to help Afghanistan achieve peace, stability and development as soon as possible.