Intl community urged to increase assistance to Afghanistan

A senior Chinese diplomat to the UN on Tuesday expressed the hopes for Afghanistan to pursue dialogue and consultations as the way to address the differences, calling on the international community to increase assistance to the Central Asian country.

Li Baodong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, made the statement while addressing a UN General Assembly meeting on the situation in Afghanistan.

In recent years, thanks to the efforts of Afghanistan government and people, the overall transition of Afghanistan has been going on smoothly and remarkable progress has been achieved in peace and reconstruction, according to Li.

"The 2014 elections will be an important milestone in Afghan political process." Li said. "We hope that the Afghan people would continue to pursue dialogue and consultations as the way to address their differences and ensure the success of the elections, so as to lay down a sound foundation for the transformation for the country."

The ambassador called on the international community to increase assistance to support Afghanistan in "enhancing its capacity of realizing economic and social development by itself" and encouraged Afghanistan in enhancing cooperation with other regional states on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefits.

"The security situation of the country still remains fragile. Any act which causes innocent civilian casualties is unacceptable, " Li added, urging all parties to comply with the international humanitarian law and other relevant international laws to fulfill their responsibilities of protecting civilians.

China supports the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in coordinating the international assistance for peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan, he said. "China will continue to provide assistance to Afghanistan within our capacity and play a constructive role for the early realization of peace, stability and development of Afghanistan."