In the first such initiative, India and China came together Monday to provide assistance to Afghanistan through a joint training programme for Afghan diplomats.
The Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats,from October 15-26, began Monday as part of an understanding reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan.
Ten Afghan diplomats started training at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) here after an event where statements by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were read out by the diplomats of the two countries.
China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui, in his remarks at the inauguration of the programme, said such a 'China-India Plus' cooperation should be extended from Afghanistan to other countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Iran and Myanmar. Describing India as a "regional major power", he said China and India can also join hands under the mechanisms of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and Bangladesh–China–India– Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation (BCIM), to promote regional peace, stability and prosperity.
"Both of us (China and India) support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process. Both of us uphold that Afghanistan should realise peace, stability and prosperity. Both of us are against terrorism.
"We are talking a lot about the regional connectivity initiatives, such as International NorthSouth Transport Corridor, India-Afghanistan-Iran transit and trade arrangement and ChinaPakistan-Afghanistan cooperation. All of these have provided a solid foundation for the current and future cooperation between China and India in Afghanistan," he said.
Noting that the training programme is the first step for the 'China-India Plus' cooperation in Afghanistan, the Chinese envoy said this was just the beginning. Swaraj, in her statement that was read out by FSI Dean Ambassador J S Mukul, said the seeds for joint cooperation in Afghanistan were sown at the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi when they met in Wuhan in April 2018.
"Today, we see it blooming with the initiation of this training programme. This marks the beginning of what we visualise as a long term trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan," Swaraj was quoted as saying.