Speech by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov at the ceremony of launching direct inter-Afghan talks on September 12, 2020, in Doha

Dear Afghan friends!

Participants of the ceremony!

Ladies and gentlemen!

Allow me to express sincere gratitude for the invitation to participate in this historical event.

I am confident that launching inclusive inter-Afghan talks will pave the way to the final establishment of long-expected peace and stability on the land of Afghanistan.

1. Uzbekistan considers Afghanistan as a close and brotherly country. We share the centuries-long ties of friendship, the commonality of history, religion, customs, and traditions.

We proceed from the fact that the establishment of durable peace in Afghanistan is essential for the stability and prosperity of the entire vast region of Central Asia.

2. Certainly, the launching of inclusive peace talks would be impossible without the meticulous work of all interested parties, without achieving certain consensus and mutual understanding.

Therefore, Uzbekistan was among the first to welcome a decision to hold the initial round of the inter-Afghan negotiations in the capital city of Qatar – Doha.

We believe that the talks in Doha will become a fundamental stage in the start of the overall process of political settlement of the situation in Afghanistan.

We are also firmly convinced in the need to observe a key principle, that is to say, the political process to establish peace in the country must be the Afghan-owned and Afghan-led.

3. We are interested in peaceful Afghanistan to become an equal partner for all neighboring countries in ensuring sustainable development, security, and stability of our common region.

Dear friends!

Without any doubt, the Tashkent conference on Afghanistan paved the way to mobilizing international efforts on launching the inter-Afghan inclusive talks.

I want to once again confirm the readiness of Uzbekistan to organize one of the rounds of inter-Afghan peace talks in the beautiful city of Samarkand.

Taking this opportunity, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Government of Qatar for its enormous efforts on launching the inter-Afghan peace talks in Doha.

I wish our Afghan friends many successes in achieving a noble goal.

Thank you for your attention.

/ IA “Dunyo”/.