Sultan Ahmad Baheen, Director General of the Third Political Department of Foreign Ministry, speaks at a joint seminar on the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and China-Afghanistan Relationship in Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 30, 2018. Participants at the seminar here have called for enhancing relations between China and Afghanistan, the two neighboring nations. (Xinhua/Dai He)

KABUL, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Participants at a seminar here have called for enhancing relations between China and Afghanistan, the two neighboring nations.

The joint seminar on the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and China-Afghanistan Relationship was held Tuesday in the Chinese Embassy.

Addressing the seminar, Chinese Ambassador Liu Jingsong said he will spare no efforts to enhance cultural and economic relations, including people-to-people bond between the two countries.

Liu, who recently arrived in Kabul to serve as China's envoy to the country, also noted that China will continue to support Afghanistan's peace and reconstruction process to see a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.

In his remarks at the seminar, Director General of the Third Political Department of Foreign Ministry, Sultan Ahmad Baheen, described China as a great and friendly neighbor of Afghanistan and hoped for further cementing ties between the two countries.

"It is a matter of pleasure that Afghanistan is a signatory of the Belt amd Road initiative," Baheen said, adding that "As a great and friendly neighbor, China has been standing alongside the people of Afghanistan and helping Afghans in the reconstruction process of their country."

He noted that the bilateral relations between the two countries will strengthen further in the years ahead.

Former Afghan Ambassador to China Sultan Ahmad Baheen, who is presently serving as the in-charge of China-related issue with the Afghan Foreign Ministry, in his address called for promoting people-to-people exchange and China's investment in the country's development projects.

The participants also discussed peace and reconciliation process and called for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.