On the morning of August 16, Janan Mosazai, Afghan ambassador to China, gave a keynote speech with the theme of “The Belt and Road Initiative” (B&R) and Afghanistan at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies with Renmin University of China (RDCY). The seminar was hosted by Yang Qingqing, director of the Research Cooperation Department of RDCY.

At the beginning of the seminar, Wang Wen, Executive Dean of RDCY expressed his warm welcome to the Ambassador.  He said that Afghanistan is a country with long history. At this stage, Afghanistan is actively transforming its development model and strengthening its strategic integration with China's B&R to promote its sustainable development. We support Afghanistan's integration into regional cooperation and promote the common development of the two countries.

Ambassador Janan Mosazai said in his keynote speech that since the establishment of strategic partnership between China and Afghanistan in 2012, high-level exchanges between the two countries have been deepening. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani took China as his first trip of visit, and the leaders of two countries have met each year. In addition, The two countries' visits at various levels such as military, politics and economy have been regularized and normalized, and multi-level and all-round friendly relations have been established.

He noted that Afghanistan should not become a battlefield, but build a path of trade route and market, so as to realize the mutual benefit and win-win with other countries. In terms of regional security and stability, Ambassador Janan Mosazai appreciated China for its support for Afghanistan's counter-terrorism process.

Ambassador Janan Moszai described the political goals of Afghanistan in the future, expecting more countries to participate in the peace process in Afghanistan, jointly combat transnational crime and terrorism, resolve refugee problems and establish permanent peace.

The Chinese and international guests attending the seminar exchanged their views on ambassador's speech. Zhou Rong, senior fellow of RDCY, hopes to strengthen cooperation between China and Afghanistan in the future, especially to encourage more Chinese private companies to invest in Afghanistan.

John Ross, senior fellow of RDCY, said that the geopolitical position of Afghanistan has a major impact on global major powers. On the other hand, China, India and Russia are important to the stability of Afghanistan. Guan Zhaoyu, an associate research fellow of RDCY, mentioned that China and Afghanistan should not only enhance the interconnectivity in commodity goods, but also secure cooperation at all levels. Teng Jimeng, an associate professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University and an English consultant of the RDCY, believes that China and Afghanistan have broader cooperation prospects on anti-terrorism issues.

At the end of the seminar, director Yang Qingqing introduced the progress of the Silk Road Institute, which was established in May this year by Renmin University of China, and hopes that more Afghan youths will come to China to study in the future. She stressed that the two countries should strengthen direct academic exchanges and personnel exchanges in various fields to promote mutual understanding and actively promote more pragmatic humanities exchanges and cooperation.

Commercial counsellor of the Afghan Embassy in China, Mustafa Jamal, and the second secretary, Sayed Mahdi Munadi, attended the seminar.