Kazakhstan, Astana, 26 April / Trend D.Muhtarov /
The meeting of senior officials in the framework of the Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process on Afghanistan started its work on Thursday in Almaty. The key objective of the meeting is to agree on the text of the Almaty Declaration and other documents of the main ministerial-level meeting scheduled for April 26, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan reported.
The foreign minister of Kazakhstan Erlan Idrisov held a series of bilateral meetings with arriving heads of foreign delegations to the Istanbul process.
During the meeting with the Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Dmitry Mezentsev, the sides discussed the issues of effective communication within the organization. The parties favored the balanced development of all areas of activity of the SCO and focused their attention on the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism, drug trafficking and cyber crime.
At a meeting with the head of the Afghan delegation, Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, the sides discussed the state and future directions of bilateral cooperation between Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, the issues of regional cooperation given the coming withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. In particular, the sides expressed their willingness to continue constructive cooperation on regional security in the framework of the Istanbul process and confirmed the mutual interest in further strengthening and deepening of relations between the two countries.
During the talks with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, the sides discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral relations, particularly trade and economic as well as investment and energy cooperation. They also noted the importance of the Ministerial Conference in Kazakhstan on the Istanbul process as an important component of regional and global security.
The final meeting of the day was held between Idrissov and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Jan Kubis. The parties discussed the international community's efforts to rebuild Afghanistan, noting the need to further promote socio-economic recovery of this country.