Progress in Afghan Peace Process to Boost Trade With Pakistan - Senior Official

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Sofya Grebenkina - Trade relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan can improve as soon as there are advancements in the Afghan peace process, Muhemmed Aejaz, the additional secretary for Afghanistan and West Asia at the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Sputnik.

"Both Afghanistan and Pakistan are kind of bridges between very important regions, so the possibilities [for trade] are huge… But I think the essential condition is to be able to stop the bloodshed and the conflict, start the reconciliation and achieve a permanent peace, something which is guaranteed by the international community, by the regional countries. Once that is done, the rest is, to my mind, a given," Aejaz, who came to Moscow to represent Pakistan at the talks, said.

Moscow hosted the second round of negotiations on Afghanistan on Friday. The talks involved the Afghan High Peace Council and, for the first time, the political office of the Taliban in Doha. Representatives from China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the United States have also been invited to join the meeting.

READ MORE: US Embassy in Moscow to Send Its Staffers to Afghan Talks in Russia — State Dept

The first round of consultations took place in mid-April last year and was attended by deputy foreign ministers and special representatives of 11 countries interested in achieving peace in Afghanistan.