A file picture of security personnel standing guard before a joint press conference of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Beijing, China. EPA/EFE/FILE/ROMAN PILIPEY

A file picture of security personnel standing guard before a joint press conference of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Beijing, China. EPA/EFE/FILE/ROMAN PILIPEY

Foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China to meet in Islamabad

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Islamabad/Kabul, May 2 (EFE).- Foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Pakistan and China are expected to meet in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad over the weekend for trilateral talks focusing on the situation in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.

“Both the Afghan interim foreign minister and Chinese foreign minister are expected to reach Islamabad over the weekend for trilateral mechanism talks,” a Pakistani foreign ministry official, who asked not to be named, told EFE.

According to the official, the final date for the trilateral talks was still being finalized and could take place this weekend or early next week.

“The trilateral meeting is expected on May 6 but it is being finally approved by the three sides,” another foreign ministry official told EFE on the condition of anonymity.

This would be Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s first visit to its traditional-ally Pakistan since assuming office in December last year.

A Chinese foreign ministry statement on Tuesday said Gang will visit Myanmar and India between May 2-5, but did not mention his Pakistan visit.

In India, he will be attending a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Goa on May 5.

On Monday, a United Nations Security Council committee, following a request from Pakistan, allowed the Taliban’s interim foreign minister to travel to Pakistan to meet with Pakistani and Chinese counterparts.

Meanwhile, the Taliban government’s foreign ministry reported in a statement that an inclusive political and commercial delegation led by Foreign Minister Malavi Amir Khan Muttaqi will travel to Islamabad towards the end of this week.

It added that the Taliban delegation will take part in “an inclusive discussion on bilateral political, commercial relation, regional stability, and transit between Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

It underlined that this would be the Sixth tripartite meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan, China, and Pakistan.

Muttaqi had earlier visited Pakistan in November 2021 to meet the then-Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad. EFE

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