Ban Ki-moon attended the one-day conference, which adopted an action plan to help fight terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime.
He thanked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for their initiative in organizing the conference, which was held under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) - a regional security organization comprising Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Medvedev said Friday in a welcome message to participants that Russia is ready to actively contribute to stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan.
The conference participants - SCO ministers and representatives of G8 members,
Turkmenistan, Turkey, Iran, the UN, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the OSCE, the EU and NATO - gathered to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and in the Middle East and work out a strategy of fighting terrorism and drug production.
The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
"I am convinced that the conference results will be a weighty contribution to the efforts by member countries and observers of the SCO, other states and international organizations to assist Afghanistan," said the president's message.
"For its part, Russia is ready for active joint steps aimed at normalizing the situation in the country and ensuring its peaceful and creative development," it said.
Medvedev said the conference was a very important event and noted that its participants would have to discuss a number of serious problems touching upon the interests of Afghanistan and other countries.
The president said Russia is interested in wide cooperation with the international community to resolve Afghanistan's problems.
