Mogherini meets Afghan Foreign Minister Rabbani to prepare NATO summit and Brussels conference on Afghanistan

Federica Mogherini i, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy i/Vice-President of the European Commission, and Salahuddin Rabbani, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan met today in Brussels in the margins of the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting.

Their talks focused on preparations for the NATO Summit, to be held in Warsaw in early July, and on the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan, to be co-hosted and co-chaired by the European Union on 4-5 October 2016 in Brussels.

Both parties reiterated that the conference should focus on three key elements: mobilising joint international and Afghan efforts to increase the effectiveness of sustained international support and funding, on the basis of a new Afghan national peace and development framework; ensuring further progress in implementing much-needed reforms in the country, including on jobs and growth, rule of law, improved public finance management and anti-corruption so as to ensure the provision of basic services and public goods; and securing regional support for a political process towards peace and cross-border economic cooperation.

Mogherini and Rabbani exchanged views on the progress made in the preparatory talks for a peace process and its regional implications, as well as the support of the European Union in this critical phase. The HRVP and the Minister also discussed migration issues.

For information about the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan see: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/international-summit/2016/10/05/