EU Special Envoy for Afghanistan Thomas Niklasson and EU Special Representative for Central Asia Terhi Hakala set to be meet with their counterparts from the five Central Asian countries in Ashgabat on 26 May to discuss the Afghanistan's issue. According to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, the EU delegation has already held a separate meeting with Turkmen Acting Foreign Minister Vepa Hajiyev.
The sides exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan and discussed cooperation on the issue.
Afghanistan, which is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, shares borders with three of the five Central Asian countries - Tajikistan (1,300km), Turkmenistan (800km) and Uzbekistan (144km).
Hajiyev met with Roza Otunbayeva, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), who will also participate in this regional meeting.
Turkmenistan is extremely interested in the security and stability of the neighboring country, as well as its socio-economic development, Hajiyev said.
Turkmenistan ties a number of its ambitious major regional projects toward South Asia and the Asia-Pacific region to Afghan territory, including a gas pipeline, railway, power grids and fibre-optic cables.
Experts in Ashgabat say the economic regional integration of the Islamic Emirate, which came to power in Kabul almost bloodlessly after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021, could revitalise the Afghan economy.
Ashgabat sends humanitarian goods to Afghanistan, builds social facilities and provides medical care for the border peoples, which consists mostly of ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks and Turkmens.
Credits: Eziz Boyarov
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