Moscow to Host Shanghai Group Meeting on Afghanistan Today

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said yesterday that Moscow will host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) contact group meeting on Afghanistan on Wednesday. The meeting will be chaired jointly by Afghanistan and Russia. According to the foreign ministry, the meeting will be attended by the deputy foreign ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member countries as well as by Afghanistan’s deputy foreign minister. Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Afghanistan has observer status. “The issues that we will follow there are: chairing the meeting jointly, discussing gaining membership of SCO, discussing security and economic cooperation and also cooperation for peace talks,” the foreign ministry’s spokesman Shekeb Mustaghni said. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a political, economic and security organisation that was formed in China’s Shanghai city in 2001.