Chinese FM Wang Yi arrives in Islamabad for trilateral meet on Afghanistan

Islamabad, Sep. 7 (PTI): Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Islamabad on Saturday to attend the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue and hold bilateral talks with the Pakistani leadership.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi received Wang at the Noor Khan Airbase.

The trilateral forum will help improve the environment of peace and security in Afghanistan by opening the doors of economic activity and trade, Qureshi told the media at the airbase.

“Afghanistan can also benefit from the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Gwadar port,” said Qureshi.

He said peace and development in Afghanistan was important for peace in the region.

While Wang will lead the Chinese delegation at the meet, Afghan will be represented by Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani. Qureshi will chair the dialogue sessions.

The dialogue was first held in Beijing in 2017, followed by the second meet in Kabul in December 2018.

The dialogue will focus on political relations, Afghanistan peace process, security cooperation and counter terrorism measures.

This year, the meet is being held at a time when the US is finalising a peace agreement with the Taliban militants to pull out American troops from Afghanistan.

The US seeks the Taliban guarantee they will not allow Afghanistan to become a haven from which extremist groups launch global attacks.

On Thursday, US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad returned to Qatar for further talks with the Taliban as he fine-tunes a deal on withdrawing troops, the State Department said.

“Ambassador Khalilzad has returned to Doha to continue talks,” a State Department spokesperson said, signalling that the two sides were working on a possible peace deal.