Azizi off to Beinjing to attend Belt & Road Forum

KABUL (Pajhwok): The acting minister for commerce and industry has left Kabul for Beijing to attend China’s Belt and Road Forum, beginning today (Tuesday).

Nooruddin Azizi would hold meetings with Chinese businessmen, investors, industrialists and Afghan traders on the sideline of the event, the Commerce Ministry wrote on its X handle.

Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad, a spokesman for the ministry, told Pajhwok Afghan News Azizi was attending the two-day gathering in response to an official invitation from China.

Azizi will try to woo big investors to Afghanistan, as relations between China and Afghanistan continue to burgeon.

The acting minister is expected to hold talks with host officials on plans to construct a road through the Wakhan corridor to provide direct access to China.

Scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, the forum marks the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s key international infrastructure and energy initiative, aimed at reviving the ancient Silk Road.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Premier Anwaar Ul Haq Kakar and other world leaders are attending the meeting.

China’s President Xi Jinping will address the opening ceremony featuring representatives from about 140 nations and 30 international organisations.

This forum marks 10^th year of the multi-trillion-dollar transnational Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which was launched in 2013.

Billed as recreating the ancient Silk Road to boost global trade infrastructure, BRI is aimed to connect China with markets of Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

China has has inked more than 200 BRI cooperation agreements with more than 150 countries and 30-plus international entities

hz/sa/mud