A meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group will take place in Dushanbe on July 14.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the meeting participants will include foreign ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations and representatives of Afghanistan.
Foreign ministers are expected to issue a joint statement on the Afghan issue at SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group meeting;
The SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group was established in 2005 but its activity was suspended in 2009. This meeting will be the fourth one after the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group resumed functioning in 2017. The previous meetings were held in Moscow on October 11, 2017, in Beijing on May 28, 2018 and in Bishkek on April 19, 2020. Based on the established practice the meeting is held at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers of the SCO member states and Afghanistan.
The Protocol on establishment of SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, signed in Beijing on November 4, 2005, in particular, says the Group was established with the purpose of elaborating proposals and recommendations on realization of cooperation between the SCO and Afghanistan on issues of mutual interest.
The Contact Group consists of Permanent Representatives of member states to the SCO Secretariat, Secretariat officers and senior diplomats of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Beijing.
