As announced by Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin yesterday, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang-Yi will chair the March 30-31 meeting in Tunxi, Anhui province, titled “Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan Plus Afghanistan.” Foreign Ministers of Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan will attend the meeting, which will also include Afghan acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. The foreign ministers of Indonesia and Qatar have also been invited to attend as guests.
As Ukraine has been the focus of international attention recently, the purpose of the meeting is to refocus attention on Afghanistan, discuss pooling of resources, and forge a consensus on immediate priorities to stabilize the country, support the Afghan people, and urge the international community to accelerate its assistance to the country. The meeting is also expected to issue a call to unfreeze the $9 billion in assets of the Afghan Central Bank, illegally confiscated by the U.S. Treasury in August of last year and held in U.S. and European banks.
