Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov holds talks with Chinese counterpart Qin Gang in Uzbekistan

Samarkand, April 14: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday held talks with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang in Uzbekistan's Samarkand

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who on Wednesday arrived in Samarkand, took to Twitter to state that Lavrov and Foreign Minister of China Qin Gang held talks on April 13 in Samarkand. Lavrov, Qin Gang along with Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar participated in a meeting in Samarkand within the framework of a ministerial conference of Afghanistan's neighbouring nations, TASS reported.

Top diplomats of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan also attended the meeting.

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Ahead of the meeting, TASS reported that the leaders will discuss further steps on facilitating Afghanistan's political settlement. They will also talk about the stabilization of the humanitarian and socio-economic situation in Afghanistan and development of regional economic integration and the implementation of transport and energy projects with Kabul's participation.

As per TASS, during his visit, Lavrov will also participate in a meeting of top CIS diplomats and a ministerial meeting in a Russia-Central Asia format.

Lavrov had previously met Qin Gang met on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (G20FMM) in New Delhi this March. During the meeting, Qin Gang said that the ties between China and Russia continue to develop "steadily and healthily." He also recalled former Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Russia in February 2023.

"Thanks to the strategic guiding role of our leaders, our relations continue to develop steadily and healthily, setting a positive example of bilateral relations between major powers," TASS quoted Qin Gang as saying.

"Recently Comrade Wang Yi successfully visited Russia, where he exchanged views with you personally and the rest of his Russian colleagues, and [they] reached broad agreements. We took the opportunity to talk with you on all issues of mutual interest," he added.

(ANI)