On the sideline of the 8th Heart of Asia- Istanbul Process Ministerial Conference, high ranking delegates of Afghanistan, US and Uzbekistan met to discuss issues of common interest and important areas of cooperation, according to a statement on Monday.
Acting Foreign Minister Idrees Zaman met with the Special Representative of Uzbekistan’s President Ismatulla Ergashev and the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, for the first time under a trilateral framework.
The three sides, in the first trilateral meeting, discussed and exchanged views on a range of important issues of common interest and areas of cooperation.
The discussions focused on the establishment of a strategic partnership between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, bilateral cooperation towards enhanced trade and transit between the two countries, Afghanistan’s participation in C5+1, US support to the regional connectivity and trade, free trade by Afghan entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan, expanded people to people relations between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, and consultations to explore opportunities for mutual investments in the two countries.
The meeting also agreed to convene the next RECCA meeting in Tashkent early next year, and that the next trilateral meeting will be held on the sideline of the next RECCA meeting.