Afghan president calls for more youth exchanges

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday encouraged young people from China and Afghanistan to learn from each other and get prepared for more responsibilities in the future.

He made the call in a speech to hundreds of students at China Foreign Affairs University during his visit to Beijing to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

Karzai pointed out what Afghanistan has achieved since the country's reconstruction started after 2001.

"The rebuilding is successful in some fields, such as education. In 2001, there were 700,000 studying in schools, most of whom were boys. But now, we have 8 million and 3 percent of them are girls."

The president also recalled the history of exchanges between China and Afghanistan and appreciated China's contribution to his nation's reconstruction.

"We are grateful to China. China is the largest investor in Afghanistan and the first to come into our country to help."

Karzai said he hoped exchanges of people and goods between the two countries could be expanded. Bilateral trade so far exceeds $2 billion.

Karzai stressed his government is balancing relationships with both the West and the Islamic world, since Kabul valued the strategic partnership with Western countries and also maintained brotherly friendship with nations such as Iran.