DUSHANBE, 15 September (BelTA) – Countries of the region expect Afghanistan to focus on peaceful development of the country and on building diversified cooperation with other countries, BelTA learned from Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei on 15 September.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization member states agreed to work out a common stance on the situation in Afghanistan ahead of the CSTO summit going on in Dushanbe, Tajikistan these days.
Vladimir Makei said: “Naturally there are different points of view on the situation. Our approaches were outlined by the president and at other levels. I think we should wait for the Afghanistan government to finally form. We believe that an inclusive dialogue involving various population categories should be organized inside the country. We are interested in seeing no threats to neighbors from Afghanistan's territories. These threats are multidimensional today.”
Vladimir Makei remarked that the threats of terrorism and extremist can challenge not only Afghanistan's neighbors but other countries, too, including Belarus.
Vladimir Makei said: “If we see that no threats to neighboring countries originate from Afghanistan's territory, if we see that Afghanistan advocates calm and peaceful development of the country, that Afghanistan is intent on building diversified cooperation with other countries, then we will certainly be interested in having normal relations with this country.”
Moreover, Vladimir Makei pointed out that Belarus' trade turnover with Afghanistan is not that small. It has exceeded $180 million this year. It is even larger than the volume of trade with some post-Soviet countries.
