MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th July, 2023) Representatives of five Central Asian countries and the United States met in the Kazakh capital of Astana for a C5+1 special session on Afghanistan, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
"Within the framework of this session, which was held at the site of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the United States discussed a number of issues on the provision of humanitarian assistance, the protection of human rights, international cooperation with Afghanistan, as well as ensuring security and combating terrorism," the ministry said in a statement.
Ambassador-at-Large of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry Talgat Kaliyev drew the participants' attention to the importance of a unified, coordinated and pragmatic approach to the issue of stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan, the statement read.
Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West attended the meeting on behalf of the US. He was received by First Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov, the ministry said, adding that during the meeting West welcomed the measures taken by the country's government to support the Afghan people, especially in the social and economic spheres.
The deputy minister noted that Kazakhstan stands for joining international efforts "to provide assistance to Afghanistan and find ways out of the country's difficult humanitarian crisis." Special attention was paid to the initiative of the country's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to establish the UN Regional Centre for Sustainable Development in the Kazakh city of Almaty, aimed at promoting socio-economic and trade cooperation between Central Asian countries and Afghanistan.
Founded in 2015, the C5+1 is a regional diplomatic platform for the interaction of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan with the US in trade, economic and other areas of mutual interest.
