President Karzai Meets Russian Foreign Minister

June 14, 2012- President Hamid Karzai met on Thursday with Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia to discuss issues of mutual interest.

During the meeting held in the Presidential Palace, Foreign Minister Lavrov described the Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference as effective for enhancing regional cooperation and congratulated the President on its successful convention and wrap-up.

Lavrov said that his country was interested in expanding its bilateral relations and cooperation with Afghanistan.

Sergey Lavrov briefed the President on Russia’s old and new construction projects in Afghanistan and added that Russia was keen to speed up its ties and cooperation with the Afghan Line Ministries for the work.

Russian Foreign Minister also said that under the bilateral relationship framework, Russia wanted to cooperate and help with further strengthening of Afghan security forces.

President Karzai then  termed Afghan-Russian bilateral relations very important for Afghanistan.

The President thanked Russia for its support to Afghanistan’s Observer membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and evaluated his meeting as very important with President Vladimir Putin, on the sideline of the Shanghai summit, for expanding bilateral relations between the two countries.

President Karzai stressed on the need for sincere regional cooperation with the intention of strengthening peace and stability in the country.

The two sides also discussed various issues related to the future of Afghanistan beyond 2014.