BEIJING – Pakistan Ambassador to China, Masood Khalid said on Friday thatPakistan’s development assistance to Afghanistan has reached US$1 billionand the country’s development assistance is geared towards investment ininfrastructure, education, health, agriculture and capacity building ofAfghan professionals.

Pakistan has made singular contribution in education by extending 6,000fully funded scholarships to Afghan students while100 seats have beenreserved for women annually, he said in an exclusive interview with aChinese magazine “China Investment” here.

He informed this year around 750 Afghan students joined Pakistaniuniversities to pursue their education in Pakistan.

Pakistan, he said, has setup healthcare facilities in Afghanistan includingthree hospitals, i.e, Jinnah Hospital Kabul, Naib Aminullah Khan LoghariHospital and Nishtar Kidney Center in Jalalabad.

The ambassador said the Pakistan government also initiated capacitybuilding projects for Afghan healthcare professionals, under which 59Afghan medical professionals including doctors, nurses, and technicianssuccessfully completed their training in 2017.

In addition, 42 Afghan healthcare professionals will start training atInstitute of Kidney Diseases Peshawar, he added.

Masood Khalid said that Pakistan is also assisting Afghanistan in capacitybuilding in the fields of agriculture, banking, railways, military anddiplomacy.

Multiple Afghan agricultural professionals, have undergone training in“Quarantine and Plant Protection” in Pakistan, he said and added, 20 fullyfunded scholarships will be provided to officials of Afghan Ministry ofAgriculture, Irrigation and Livestock to pursue their professional studiesat Faisalabad Agricultural University.

He said a fresh batch of railway professionals will soon be trained atPakistan’s Railway academy, Lahore.

The ambassador said that Pakistan aims to continue providing assistance toAfghanistan in different fields for capacity building of Afghaninstitutions and professionals so that they contribute to the betterment oftheir people.

In this regard, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China are engaged closely throughPractical Cooperation Dialogue. Pakistan and China have asked Afghanistanto identify areas in which the countries could provide necessary trainingand arrange capacity building courses for Afghan professionals.

About the achievement and significance of trilateral dialogue among China,Pakistan and Afghanistan, he said the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yivisited Afghanistan and Pakistan last year in June.

He informed that the three countries agreed to establish theChina-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Minister’s dialogue to strengthencooperation in areas of mutual interest, beginning with economiccooperation.

The first meeting of the Foreign Minister’s level dialogue was held inBeijing on December 26, 2017.

He said the dialogue was focused on three major areas namely deepeningmutually beneficial cooperation, advancing connectivity under the Belt andRoad initiative and fighting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

“The three sides reaffirmed their support for a broad-based and inclusivepeace and reconciliation process which is Afghan-owned and Afghan-led. Thetrilateral forum will contribute to the greater connectivity, economicprosperity and peace and development of the three countries and theregion,” he added.

Regarding four goals three countries agreed to cooperate, he said the threecountries are part of the Quadrilateral Cooperation and CoordinationMechanism in Counter-terrorism along with Tajikistan, adding, the forumaims to strengthen the anti-terrorism cooperation among the armed forces ofthe four countries, and can contribute positively to peace and stability ofthe region and the world as a whole.

In addition there has been a trilateral forum amongst Afghanistan, Chinaand Pakistan on counter-terrorism which is aimed at intelligence sharingand cooperation for curbing the activities of the terrorists groups, headded.

Pakistan, he said, has undertaken concerted and precise counter-terrorismoperations in its territory and added this has resulted in the eradicationof organized presence of terrorists from its territory. OperationZarb-e-Azab and more recently Radd-ul-Fasad are focused on clamping down onthe remnant elements.

On Pakistan’s plans to strengthen the regional cooperation, he said theregional connectivity is one of the three strands of the trilateralmechanism amongst Afghanistan, China and Pakistan.

The three countries are already engaged under Practical CooperationDialogue for exploring further areas of development cooperation. Pakistanis an active member of the Belt and Road initiative.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship project of thisinitiative and in addition to China and Pakistan, regional countries canbenefit from this project.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have a critical role owing to their geographicallocation. Pakistan and China are engaged with Afghanistan to explore waysfor Afghanistan’s connectivity with the region.

He said recently, during the Prime Minister’s visit to Afghanistan,Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to sign MOUs for Quetta-Kandahar-HeratRailway project and Peshawar-Kabul Motorway.

Such projects will significantly contribute towards regional connectivityand bring economic prosperity to Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, CentralAsian Republics and the wider region, he added.

The ambassador said that Gwadar port can help connect the Central AsianRepublics with Persian Gulf countries and rest of the world.Regarding extension of CPEC to Afghanistan, he said that connectivity isthe key to exploiting the economic potential of any country or region inmodern world.

The connectivity is going to bring shared prosperity for everyone and thisis also the basic idea behind the Belt and Road initiative. Pakistan is anactive partner of China under the Belt and Road initiative and is workingtogether with China to enhance connectivity in the region through theestablishment of road, rail and sea routes.

“ We believe that CPEC has the potential to provide benefits not only tothe people of Pakistan and China but the entire region. It is a project forwin-win cooperation,” he added.

About future challenges, he said the region can only achieve its actualpotential through development carried out by enhanced connectivity.However, these ideas face multiple challenges from various fronts.

“These include deteriorating law and order situation, terrorism, negativerole played by some international actors etc. The three countries need todeepen their engagement to address the challenges and work towards peaceand stability of the region,” he concluded.