BEIJING: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi reached China on Tuesday to attend the third meeting of foreign ministers of countries neighbouring Afghanistan, which would also be attended by a US representative.

Chinese special envoy for Afghanistan Yue Xiaoyong would host the meeting, said Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry.

He also announced that a US functionary would be attending the meeting on Wednesday and Thursday in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui.

The ministerial meeting would be chaired by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and attended by Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi together with diplomats from Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Qatar.

On his arrival at the Huangshan International Airport, Mr Qureshi was received by senior officials of the Chinese government and Pakistan’s Ambassador Moeen ul Haq.

Besides attending the ministerial meeting, the foreign minister will interact with counterparts from the participating countries. In a video message before departing for China, Mr Qureshi said: “We will run through the situation of peace in Afghanistan and discuss its economic development and connectivity projects.”

“This is an important platform for consensus-building,” the minister said, adding that the trip would be a “fully packed” one.

According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office, he said Pakistan wanted good relations with all nations. Other countries too wanted good ties with Pakistan, which was evident from participation of dozens of countries in the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation held recently in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2022