Tashkent to host conference on Afghanistan in March 2018
Tashkent and Kabul will hold an international conference on Afghanistan in March 2018. Representatives of the Russian Federation, People's Republic of China, the United States of America, India, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Central Asian states will come to the Uzbek capital to discuss the Afghan problem. The Secretary-General of the United Nations will take part in the meeting also. As the head of the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov stated, the meeting in Tashkent will become a logical consequence of the negotiation process on the Afghan settlement. According to the head of the Uzbek Foreign Office, the Tashkent conference will unite the efforts of the world community to solve the Afghan problem. Experts believe that the main principles of normalizing the situation in Afghanistan and the possibility of direct inter-Afghan talks - between Kabul and the opposition – will be discussed in Tashkent. Turkmenistan has always believed that the solution of the Afghan problem has politically and diplomatically basis. Official Ashkhabad has repeatedly stated that the negotiation process on Afghanistan should go hand in hand with rendering of assistance in restoring the economy and social sphere of the country. In 2017, the capital of Turkmenistan hosted the 7th Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA VII).
