Ghani lands in Ufa for BRICS summit

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani arrived at Ufa International Airport in the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan, Thursday, to attend the seventh BRICS summit.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are expected to discuss further cooperation between the countries of the bloc, particularly within the context of the newly-formed New Development Bank (NDB).

The summit comes ahead of the 15th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on July 9 and 10, also taking place in Ufa. In total, 10,000 visitors are expected at the two events.

It has been said that President Ghani will call for the permanent membership of Afghanistan in the organization.

Political deputy of the foreign ministry said that stability in Afghanistan and region, peace talks with Taliban and fight against terrorist groups are the key issues in SCO summits.

“President Ghani will have 10 bilitrial meetings with presidents of SCO member countries and the main focus is stability in Afghanistan and the region,” Hekmat Khalil Karzai, deputy political of foreign ministry said.

According to Russian sources, Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with President Ghani on the sidelines of SCO and BRICS summits in Russia’s UFA on July 10.

The SCO could prove a guarantor for projects such as the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.

The five BRICS emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – will meet from July 8 to 9.

The SCO – which is a political, economic and military organization founded by China, Russia, and Central Asia’s Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – is scheduled for July 9-10.

Meanwhile,  China on Wednesday said it is “willing” to cooperate with both India and Pakistan countries to work for the stability of war-torn Afghanistan.

“Since 2009, SCO has had many contacts with Afghanistan, and we are also willing to cooperate with India and Pakistan on the Afghan issue,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying told a media briefing here on Wednesday.

“We hope to play a constructive role to this end. Afghanistan is an important country and observer of SCO, and its situation bears on the security and stability of Central Asia,” Hua said.

This is President Ghani’s first trip to Russia and attends to SCO summits. Ghani will gather the consultation of SCO members regarding Peace negotiations with Taliban on the sidelines of the summit.