Samarkand: Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, met in the city of Samarkand of Uzbekistan, as the Central Asian country hosted a conference Thursday of foreign ministers of regional states to review the situation and cooperation with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Top-level diplomats from Pakistan and Iran also attended the conference, including Pakistan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the foreign ministers of the four nations met and addressed the necessity of working with Afghan authorities to preserve political stability and avert a humanitarian crisis.
The top-level diplomats also talked about the coordination of efforts to “counter the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking from the Afghan territory.”
Russia and China are among a few countries that have kept their diplomatic missions in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, since the Taliban took power in August 2021.
Separate discussions on a variety of topics, including the situation in Ukraine, were held on the margins of the meeting on Thursday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Similarly, the Chinese foreign ministry said that China was prepared to collaborate more closely with Afghanistan’s neighbours and the international community for stability, security, prosperity, and development in both the country and the larger region.
In the statement, China reaffirmed its commitment to respecting Afghanistan’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity as well as the decisions that its citizens have made. It encouraged the United States to honour its promise to Afghanistan by providing the country with unwavering support while it fights terrorism.
