Speech by Chairman Luo Zhaohui at the Afghanistan Conference 2022

Speech by Chairman Luo Zhaohui at the Afghanistan Conference 2022

( March 31, 2022)

Your Excellency SG Antonio Guterres,

Dear colleagues,

I am delighted to join you all. Today's conference shows the UN family's solidarity and strength to tackle humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. I thank you, Mr. Guterres, for your leadership and vision on this issue.

Afghanistan is in a critical transition from turbulence to order. The country faces both challenges and opportunities, difficulties and hopes. Afghanistan that enjoys stability, peace and development serves the interests of its people, its neighbors and the world.

The Afghan people have been suffering from shortage of clothing, food and medicines including vaccine since last winter. We share their feelings. Last September, President Xi Jinping made a commitment to assisting Afghanistan in the joint summit of the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states on the Afghanistan issue. The Chinese government has provided Afghan people winter materials and vaccines needed most, worth of 250 million RMB. The local authorities and NGOs of China also provided in-kind assistance of 50 million RMB. All the above-mentioned assistance have been put in place.

Furthermore, China will cooperate with relevant UN agency to arrange 2 million USD food aid to Afghanistan immediately. We will also implement as soon as possible, the bilateral grant of 1 billion RMB announced by Chinese leader.

Dear colleagues,

It is the highest priority for international community to handle the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. At the same time, helping the country move towards political stability and economic reconstruction is equally urgent. The two paths are integrated and complementary mutually to address both symptoms and root causes. In this regard, I would like to share my insights as following.

First, the international community should strengthen engagement and guidance to seek coexistence in peace, instead of isolation, with Afghan interim government and help it take good governance policy. On March 24th, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Afghanistan, and reached important consensus with Afghan leaders. Today, the Third Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan, Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan plus Afghanistan Foreign Ministers' Dialogue, and China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting were held successfully in Anhui Province of China. All of the efforts improve stability and development of Afghanistan, and also help this country overcome the humanitarian crisis.

Second, the international community should help Afghanistan in its economic reconstruction. Suffered long from wars, Afghan people have showed their long-time desire for peace and development. International community's support such as sharing development experience, expanding economic and trade cooperation, and financial support from the World Bank and IMF are of great importance in solving development difficulties and humanitarian crisis fundamentally.

Third, the UN should play a leading and key-coordination role in humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan. Relevant countries, regional organizations, frameworks of UN such as WFP, UNICEF, WHO are all advancing assistance to Afghanistan respectively. As I know, there are more than 140 organizations and institutions involving humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. UN should enhance coordination to make assistance more efficient, without conditions. Meanwhile, the UN should lift all the sanctions and limitations on Afghanistan, and certain countries should return Afghan state assets to Afghan people.

Fourth, the UN should encourage bilateral aid for Afghanistan. Bilateral and multilateral aid are equally important and complementary. Both of them should be conducted in a timely and effective manner. As the recipient, the Afghan side should strengthen internal coordination and external communication to ensure tangible results of each cent's input.

Dear colleagues,

The harsh winter is fading away, early spring is on the way in Afghanistan. I'm quite sure that, with the joint efforts of the international community, Afghanistan will definitely overcome the humanitarian crisis and realize political stability and economic reconstruction.

Thank you.