Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan & Tajikistan pres to meet in Sochi.

17/8 Tass 176

SOCHI, August 17 (Itar-Tass) - The second quadripartite summit of the
presidents of Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan - Dmitry
Medvedev, Asif Ali Zardari, Hamid Karzai and Emomali Rakhmon will be held
in Sochi on August 18.
The presidents also plan bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the
summit between Medvedev, Karzai, Zardari and Rakhmon, who will be in
Russia on a working visit on August 18-20.
The sides will centre on questions of regional security, struggle
against international terrorism and higher effectiveness of countering
drug traffic from Afghanistan.
In the opinion of chairman of the State Duma International Affairs
Committee Konstantin Kosachev, Russia can act as "a donor of economic,
social, military and political security" for Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Tajikistan. The sides are expected to mull over the topic of rendering
financial aid to Pakistan, stricken by the heaviest flood in July-August
(over 1,500 people died).
The first such meeting of the Four was held on July 30, 2009 in
Dushanbe (Tajikistan). President Dmitry Medvedev said at the time that the
sides witnessed the birth of a new format of cooperation between Central
Asian countries, providing for discussion of all the main intra-regional
problems. Medvedev, Zardari, Karzai and Rakhmon discussed the problems of
terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking as well as questions of social
and economic cooperation.
The negotiators emphasized the need for mapping out ways and means of
promoting regional trade, increasing the inflow of foreign investments and
implementation of projects in hydropower energy (Sangtuda hydropower
station No.1 was opened in Tajikistan on July 31, 2009). Besides, the
presidents discussed projects of pooling transport, communication and
energy networks of the four states.
They also examined progress for preparing construction of a regional
power transmission line Central Asia-South Asia (project CASA-1000 -
Central Asia -South-Asia-1000). The power transmission line under
construction will help to dispatch redundant power to Afghanistan and
Pakistan. By the results of the summit, the sides signed the Joint
Statement, where the leaders called on international financial
institutions "to step up assistance in implementing regional economic
projects".
Two bilateral meetings were held on the fringes of the 2009 summit:
Medvedev discussed with Zardari the situation in Afghanistan, the struggle
against terrorism and drug crime, while with Rakhmon - bilateral relations.
A tripartite meeting of the presidents of Tajikistan, Pakistan and
Afghanistan was held on July 30, 2009, at the end of which they also
signed a Joint Statement. The leaders of the three states examined the
situation in the region, security and joint struggle against terrorism and
the spread of drugs as well as the problem of economic cooperation (power
transit from Central Asia to South Asian countries and participation in
hydropower projects in Tajikistan).
In the experts' opinion, the second such summit "means a rise of
Russia's relations with countries in the region to a new qualitative
level".
-0-bur/kud