Four leaders urge world community to fight against drug threat

TASS.COM
DUSHANBE, July 30 (Itar-Tass) - In their joint statement on Thursday, the Russian, Afghan, Pakistani and Tajik leaders urged the world community to take additional measures in fight against the drug threat from Afghanistan.

The document emphasized concern in connection with “the growth of an illegal drug trafficking as one of the main sources of financing the terrorist activity”. “The parties urge the international community to take additional measures in cooperation with the Afghan government for a resolute fight against the drug threat,” the statement said.

Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan welcomed Tajikistan’s bid to take part in joint work whose main directions were fixed by the foreign ministers of these states at the end of June. “The parties welcome readiness expressed by the Republic of Tajikistan to take part in work on the main directions fixed in the statements of foreign ministers” of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Russia, it said.

The document said that at a meeting held in the atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding the four leaders had discussed the main directions of four-way cooperation.

The four leaders acknowledged “particular importance of expanding and strengthening mutually advantageous economic cooperation” of their states and marked “a need to consistently implement agreements” reached at the previous meeting in Yekaterinburg.

They welcomed the statement of foreign ministers of their countries made in Trieste on June 26. They also marked the importance of commissioning the Sangtudin hydroelectric power station to solve energy problems of the region.

The presidents “put much emphasis on the development and strengthening of trade and economic relations between the four states and support activity at the national and international level aimed at contributing to the social and economic restoration and development of the region,” the document said.

It also marked “a need of four-party economic cooperation, including as concerns work on ways and means to contribute to regional trade, to increase the flow of foreign investments and implement projects in the sphere of hydraulic power industry, laying of power transmission lines and development of transport infrastructure, as well as the importance of measures for setting up a favourable investment climate in their states, encouraging direct contacts between the business communities” of the four countries.

The presidents stressed “the expedience of an active involvement of Afghanistan in processes of economic cooperation in the region in the interests of restoring the economy and normalizing the situation in the country on the whole”.

Besides, they expressed “interest in participation in economic cooperation under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” and urged “the World Bank and other international financial institutions to boost assistance in the implementation of regional economic projects, including studying the possibility of rendering such aid in the CASA-1000 project”.

Presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan expressed gratitude to Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon for a warm welcome and emphasized the importance of their meeting.