BEIJING, December 4 (INP):  China welcomes and applauds the recent progress in intra-Afghan talks, said spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry Hua Chunying here at a press conference.

" It has been the Afghan people's aspiration to realize peace and stability at an early date. After so many years of war, the Afghan people deserve a more peaceful, stable and wonderful future. We hope both sides of the Afghan peace talks will put the nation and people first, act on the people's will, meet each other halfway and reach consensus on peace as soon as possible. China will continue working with the international community to play a constructive role in this process," the spokesperson added. Commenting on progress on CPEC, Hua Chunying said, "China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is an important pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative, and significant progress has been made in the past seven years or so. Most outcomes are achieved in the fields of transport infrastructure and energy. A large number of highways and power stations have been built and lots of jobs created, strongly boosting the economic development of the relevant regions in Pakistan, which has benefited the Pakistani people and thus warmly welcomed and positively appraised by them. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, various CPEC projects have persisted in not evacuating people, not laying off workers, and not stopping construction, which has provided strong support for Pakistan to fight the epidemic and stabilize the economy. At present, the two sides are actively preparing for the 10th CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee meeting to plan for the future CPEC development. Both the Chinese and Pakistani governments attach great importance to CPEC projects. China is willing to make joint efforts with Pakistan to fully implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries. While completing and operating well existing projects, China is willing to further focus on cooperation in the fields of social wellbeing, livelihoods, industry and agriculture so the CPEC will stand as a shining example of high-quality BRI cooperation and deliver more benefits to people in the two countries and other countries in the region." INP/javed