ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th January, 2019) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday that Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan would hold a trilateral summit in Istanbul after March 31.
"The Afghanistan-Pakistan-Turkey trilateral summit will be held in Istanbul after the local elections in Turkey, which are scheduled for March 31," Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Ankara.
The Pakistani prime minister, in turn, expressed hope that the summit would contribute to the Afghan peace process.
"People of Afghanistan have been suffering for over three decades. It is time the international community and anyone who can help bring peace there ... I look forward to the summit meeting in trilateral [format] in Istanbul, where we hope that Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey will be able to help in this peace process, as I said a much badly needed peace," Khan said.
Afghanistan has long been suffering from political, social and security instability due to simmering insurgency, including that of the Taliban movement and the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia).
