Lavrov said during opening comments at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s conference on regional security in Moscow:
"We are ready to deepen constructive cooperation with Kabul in all areas. We believe that special attention is needed in the expansion of mutual action with the Afghan side in fighting against drug plantations and drug laboratories. The volume of drug production in Afghanistan is growing at a threatening pace and the income is being absorbed not only by terrorist groups in the country, but also beyond its borders."
Afghanistan has observer status with SCO, a Eurasian political, economic and military alliance, comprising Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged for national reconciliation in Afghanistan, calling on other states to help promote peace in the country.
"Under the current circumstances, promotion of the national reconciliation becomes more urgent. We hope Afghanistan will achieve a comprehensive and inclusive reconciliation," Wang said at the meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states in Moscow.
"We should prevent a turmoil and separatists, extremists and terrorists from coming back to the region," Wang said.
Last month, SCO head Dmitry Mezentsev said that the organization was interested in finding a peaceful solution to the crisis in Afghanistan and requested that member states actively increase their cooperation in countering widespread drug production and trafficking.
