US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West visited Astana to attend the C5+1 special session on Afghanistan, El.kz cites MFA.
Within the framework of this session, which was held at the site of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the United States discussed a number of issues on the provision of humanitarian assistance, the protection of human rights, international cooperation with Afghanistan, as well as ensuring security and combating terrorism.
Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Talgat Kaliyev, representing the Kazakh side, drew the attention of the session participants to the importance of a single agreed pragmatic approach to the issue of stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan.
The US Special Representative was received by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov. During the meeting, the American side welcomed the measures taken by the Government of Kazakhstan to provide assistance to the Afghan people, noting measures to stabilize the social and economic situation.
Umarov stressed that Kazakhstan is in favor of joining international efforts to provide assistance to Afghanistan and find ways out of the country's difficult humanitarian crisis. In particular, attention was drawn to the initiative of President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to establish the UN Regional Centre for Sustainable Development in Almaty, which is aimed at promoting cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan in the areas of socio-economic and trade investment development.