Russia, Pakistan to make use of SCO capabilities to deal with Afghanistan

Russia and Pakistan to engage the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) capabilities to assist the situation in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a press conference after talks with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Moscow on Monday.

“We have talked about the situation in Afghanistan a lot; this is directly connected to the goal of elimination of terrorist threats in our region. So far, unfortunately, it has not happened, but efforts are being made, and we agreed to engage the capabilities of the SCO to that extent as well – the SCO-Afghanistan contact group in particular,” Lavrov said.

According to Lavrov, Moscow and Islamabad are mutually interested in development of cooperation via the SCO, TASS reports.

“We share an opinion that this is a very promising format of multilateral, multipolar diplomacy. The efficiency of this structure is confirmed by the growing interest from non-member states in closer cooperation with it and in becoming its members,” the Foreign Minister concluded.