UN HEAD WELCOMES RUSSIA’S ROLE IN RESTORATION OF AFGHANISTAN
RIA Novosti
15:13 | 28/ 03/ 2009
MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti) – The joints efforts of participants
at an international conference on Afghanistan in Moscow will help
restore peace in the country, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
said Saturday.
Ban Ki-moon attended the one-day conference, which adopted an action
plan to help fight terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime.
He thanked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov for their initiative in organizing the conference, which
was held under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) – a regional security organization comprising Kazakhstan, China,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Medvedev said Friday in a welcome message to participants that
Russia is ready to actively contribute to stabilizing the situation
in Afghanistan.
The conference participants – SCO ministers and representatives of
G8 members,
Turkmenistan, Turkey, Iran, the UN, the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO), the OSCE, the EU and NATO – gathered to discuss
the situation in Afghanistan and in the Middle East and work out a
strategy of fighting terrorism and drug production.
The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
"I am convinced that the conference results will be a weighty
contribution to the efforts by member countries and observers of
the SCO, other states and international organizations to assist
Afghanistan," said the president’s message.
"For its part, Russia is ready for active joint steps aimed at
normalizing the situation in the country and ensuring its peaceful
and creative development," it said.
Medvedev said the conference was a very important event and noted that
its participants would have to discuss a number of serious problems
touching upon the interests of Afghanistan and other countries.
The president said Russia is interested in wide cooperation with the
international community to resolve Afghanistan’s problems.