Last month, India and China came together for a project to train Afghan diplomats. This was announced to be the first among many partnerships between India and China for Afghanistan.
Addressing the inaugural session of the China training programme, India’s Deputy Ambassador in Beijing, Acquino Vimal said “We are hopeful that in the months to come we will be able to identify more specific projects which can be jointly done by the government of India and government of China for the benefit of Afghanistan as desired by the government and people of Afghanistan”.
Vimal expressed India’s commitment to Afghanistan’s efforts to “emerge as a united, peaceful, secure, stable, inclusive and economically vibrant nation” and he added that India is proud to have committed $3 billion for the country’s development in the last 17 years.
“India and Afghanistan are close neighbours as well as strategic and development partners. All efforts of India as a development partner of Afghanistan have been based on the priorities set by the government and people of Afghanistan. This has been our fundamental basis for any development partnership,” an Indian Embassy press release quoted Vimal as saying.
India’s development-oriented projects in Afghanistan are especially in the domains of building infrastructure, development of human resources, enhancing connectivity and promoting trade and investment links, Vimal explained.
“I am happy to inform that through our scholarship and training programme, more than 3,500 Afghan diplomats are being trained in India every year,” he said.
As per The Economic Times of India, Afghan diplomats who underwent training in New Delhi from October 15-26, are now to begin a 10-day training at the China Foreign Affairs University.
The plan for these initiatives began after thr informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping held in April in China’s Wuhan city.
