Moscow: Russia is preparing to host a
quadrilateral summit with the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan
and Tajikistan to resolve the volatile situation in Af-Pak
region through dialogue, a top Kremlin aide said on Tuesday.
"We in everyway encourage dialogue of Afghan and
Pakistani leadership, which has become more regular," Kremlin
foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko said noting it would be
the third summit in this format.
He did not rule out that quadrilateral summit could
be hosted by Russian in August.
"Currently we are intensively working with our
partners for preparing this event," Prikhodko was quoted as
saying by ITAR-TASS.
He underscored that the summit will not set any
'super tasks' nor it will end with the signing of any joint
agreements.
"This would be a traditional meeting in line with
our efforts to resolve regional conflicts," Prikhodko said.
Earlier, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev had
hosted bi-lateral and multilateral meetings with Pakistani
President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai on
the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
summits in Yekaterinburg in 2009 and earlier last month in
Tashkent.
Involvement of Tajikistan in the AfPak dialogue,
which is basically limited to interests Pashtuns, adds a new
dimension for a wider dialogue as Dushanbe has close
historical linkages with the ethnic Tajik population in the
north Afghanistan.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 22:09