Islamabad –
Pakistan said the foreign minister Friday from six direct neighbors Afghanistan would gather in China next month to discuss economic and humanitarian upheaval faced by the country ruled by conflict.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehermood Qureshi said at a press conference at Islamabad that his Russian colleagues, Sergey Lavrov, will also attend the two-day meeting hosted by Beijing starting March 30.
QureShi said the discussion would focus on ways to protect the Afghans from the humanitarian crisis and prevent the economic crisis in Afghanistan.
“If there is, God forbid, the economic crisis (in Afghanistan), the impact will struck not only Pakistan but other neighboring countries and large areas,” Qureshi warned.
The meeting in China will be the third dialogue between neighboring Afghanistan, including China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, since the Taliban country takeover in August.
Islamabad initiated and hosted the first session in the process in September after the Taliban seized power from the Western-supported Afghanistan government and international forces of Afghan leaders who are now withdrawn from the country.
Tehran held a second foreign minister meeting at the end of October.
A senior Minister of Foreign Affairs Pakistani senior official told VOA that the Taliban leaders would be invited to two-day discussions in China to allow them to share their assessment of the latest Afghanistan situation.
The official, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media, said the trilateral dialogue involving Afghanistan, Pakistan and China would also be held on the sidelines of the meeting.
He said Chinese and Pakistani officials were expected to discuss and propose economic connectivity projects to the Taliban delegation under the ongoing MEGA-infrastructure development program funding Pakistan. The official did not share further details.
This program, known as the China-Pakistani economic corridor (CPEC), was praised as a superior Belt of Beijing’s global belt and road initiative. It has built roads, power plants and other infrastructure projects in Pakistan with Chinese investment over the past seven years.
“Both parties are ready to discuss with Afghanistan CPEC extension to Afghanistan,” read a joint statement issued at the end of the vast bilateral talks President XI Jinping was held with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Beijing earlier this month.
