FMs of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries holding meeting in Samarkand

The foreign ministers of Russia, China and Iran and Pakistan’s minister of state for foreign affairs are holding a meeting in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand on Thursday within the framework of a ministerial conference of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries.

Before the meeting, Sergey Lavrov, Qin Gang, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Rabbani Khar took pictures together with the meeting proceeding in a closed format.

The top diplomats of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are also participating. The diplomats will discuss the further steps on facilitating Afghanistan’s political settlement, the stabilization of the humanitarian and socio-economic situation in the country as well as the development of regional economic integration and the implementation of transport and energy projects with Kabul’s participation.

Lavrov arrived in Samarkand on Wednesday. In addition to the conference on Afghanistan, on Friday, the Russian foreign minister will participate in a meeting of top CIS diplomats and a ministerial meeting in a Russia-Central Asia format.