China is a friendly neighbor of Afghanistan. The two countries are of a community of shared destiny. Based on that, China would like to see a stable and prosperous Afghanistan and always contributes to the development of Afghanistan through the economic and trade cooperation.
In the past, China was a development partner for Afghanistan. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, although China was not well off at that time, the Chinese government built some aid projects in Afghanistan such as Parwan Irrigation System and Kandahar Hospital, which are still functioning well in promoting the livelihood and welfare of the local people.
In recent years, China has been increasing bilateral economic and trade cooperation to further promote the development of Afghanistan.
First, bilateral trade has increased dramatically. To promote the economic development of Afghanistan and Afghan export to China, the Chinese government unilaterally granted duty free treatment to 95% of Afghan-originated products exported to China in 2013. In 2015, the duty free treatment was extended to cover 97% of Afghan-originated products exported to China. In 2015, Afghan export to China grew 2.4 times in value than that in 2012 according to statistics from China Customs. Bilateral trade reached $1.05 billion in the fiscal year of 2014-2015 and China became the third largest trading partner of Afghanistan according to statistics from Central Statistics Office of Afghanistan.
Secondly, China is now the largest investment origin country in Afghanistan. Chinese companies have invested a lot in different sectors in Afghanistan, generating government revenues and creating thousands of job opportunities. In the mining sector, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Amu Darya Oil Project and is ready to invest more. Metallurgic Corporation of China (MCC) and Jiangxi Copper Corporation have invested about $360 million and are going to invest billions of dollars more to develop Aynak Copper Mine. Huawei Technologies and ZTE have been operating in Afghanistan for many years, and contribute a lot to the great improvement of the telecommunication services in Afghanistan. China Raiway Shisiju Corporation, China 19th Metallurgic Corporation, Xinjiang Beixin Road & Bridge Corporation have been actively participating in the infrastructure development in Afghanistan.
In addition, China has been providing grants to Afghanistan to implement projects in different economic and social sectors. Although China is not the largest donor country to Afghanistan, China’s assistance is sincere and without any political conditions attached. Under the Chinese grant, China has trained more than 2000 professionals in different fields through bilateral and multilateral channels, provided many batches of goods and materials such as agricultural machinery, ambulances, protocol vehicles, medical equipment, wheat, office equipment, and humanitarian relief supplies, offered cash grants, cancelled government debts of ￡9.6 million owed by the Afghan government, and built some projects such as Jumhoriate Hospital, Chinese Language Department Teaching Building and Guest House of Kabul University, National Center for Science and Technology Education, Multi-functional Hall in the Presidential Palace. What’s more, China is going to continue her assistance to Afghanistan, help develop more human resources, donate office supplies to the Afghan government, provide teaching equipment to Kabul University, build projects such as the National Vocational and Technical Institute, affordable residential apartments, simple shelters for flood victims, as well as some other projects under discussion.