MOSCOW, March 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia hopes to
increase international effectiveness in assisting the Afghan
government in the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking,
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
Speaking ahead of Friday's Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) conference on Afghanistan, Lavrov said there
must be "more coordination" on combating terrorism and drug
trafficking.
Russia's proposals "are directed, first of all, at
increasing the efficiency of international cooperation in the
work of supporting the efforts of the government of Afghanistan
in the struggle against the threat of terrorism and illegal
drugs," Lavrov said.
The SCO is a security group that comprises Russia, China,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The Moscow
meeting will also be attended by officials from Afghanistan,
neighboring Turkmenistan, Group of Eight leading industrial
countries, the European Union, NATO and the post-Soviet
Commonwealth of Independent States.
Russia took over the presidency of the SCO last August.
Iran, India, Mongolia and Pakistan have observer status in the
organization.
Another conference on Afghanistan is to be held next
Tuesday in The Hague under the auspices of the UN.
A Russian foreign ministry spokesman, Andrei Nesterenko,
said on Thursday that Russia hoped the participants of the
forum in The Hague would "use the results of their work in the
conference in Moscow" to increase further international efforts
in the situation in regard to Afghanistan.
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