Pakistan & China agree to extend CPEC to Afghanistan

Qin Gang, Bilawal Bhutto and Amir Muttaqi

Islamabad, May 9 (PTI) Pakistan, China and Afghanistan have agreed to forge closer economic ties by extending the Beijing-backed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan to fully harness the country's potential as a hub for regional connectivity.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang and Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi held the 5th China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue, where they also underlined the need to prevent any group from using their territories for terror activities against any nation.

The three countries reiterated their resolve to fully harness Afghanistan’s potential as a hub for regional connectivity and reaffirmed "their commitment to further the trilateral cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and to jointly extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan,” according to a joint statement issued on Monday, two days after the meeting here on May 6.