China to host 3rd foreign ministers meeting of Afghanistan's neighbours on March 30-31

China will host the 3rd foreign ministers meeting of Afghanistan's neighboring countries in Tunxi, East China's Anhui Province, on March 30-31. Announcing this, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in Beijing on Monday that Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will attend the meeting. Except Russia, all the above-mentioned countries are geographically Afghanistan’s neighbors. 

Acting Foreign Minister of the Afghan Interim Government Amir Khan Muttaqi will be invited to attend the dialogue. The meeting will be chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Beijing along with its all-weather ally Pakistan seeks to firm up their influence in the war-torn country ruled by the Taliban. India has not been invited to the meeting.

Foreign ministers of Indonesia and Qatar will be invited as guests, the spokesperson said. He added that on the sidelines of the meeting, the Chinese foreign



minister Wang Yi will also host a dialogue between the visiting foreign ministers and the acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi of the Afghan interim government.

The dialogue is expected to promote the Afghan side to build an open and inclusive political structure, pursue a moderate and stable domestic and foreign policy, and effectively fight terrorism, he said.

“At the same time, we also expect the international community to provide greater support to Afghanistan and call on the United States to effectively assume the primary responsibility for economic reconstruction in Afghanistan,” he said.

Wang Yi visited Afghanistan on March 24, the first such visit by the Chinese foreign minister since the Taliban took over in August 2021. The first and second meetings were held in September and October 2021 in Islamabad and Tehran respectively.