Russia’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said in a meeting with Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul that a high-level Russian delegation will visit Kabul in the near future to discuss the expansion of bilateral cooperation with the Islamic Emirate.

Kabulov and Muttaqi discussed bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Russia, especially economic cooperation, investment and transit, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Muttaqi described the relations between the Islamic Emirate and Russia as important, stressing that the ties should be expanded to include economic and trade cooperation.

He said visits to Kabul by high-level officials was important, adding that during the past year, many officials of the Islamic Emirate have been invited to Russia to attend international meetings.

Meanwhile, the Russian diplomat said that his country wants to expand its relations with Afghanistan in the economic and trade sectors.

This comes on the heels of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko’s comments that the completion of legal procedures to remove the Islamic Emirate from Moscow’s terrorist list will provide positive impetus to Russian-Afghan relations.

In an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency, published early Sunday, Rudenko said “removing the terrorist organization’s status from the Taliban Movement (Islamic Emirate) will attribute a positive impetus to Russian-Afghan interaction in various spheres, in the economy in the first instance."

"As regards the issue of the official recognition of current Afghan authorities, it is early to talk about it thus far. Let’s act gradually, step by step, but we do not intend to artificially impede the processes," Rudenko noted.

Russia has been slowly building ties with the Islamic Emirate since it regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021 but the IEA is still officially outlawed in Russia.

In response to Russia’s comments last month, the IEA’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said the Islamic Emirate “appreciates the positive remarks by the high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation in this regard and hope to see more effective steps soon."

وزارت امور خارجه‌ی ایران گفته است که بیست‌وهشتمین نشست وزرای امور خارجه‌ی کشورهای عضو سازمان همکاری اقتصادی (ایکو‌) هفته‌ی آینده در مشهد برگزار می‌شود.

اسماعیل بقائی، سخنگوی وزارت امور خارجه با اعلام این خبر گفته است که وزرا و مقام‌های بلند رتبه‌ای کشورهای عضو سازمان ایکو‌به همراه مدیران سازمان‌های تخصصی منطقه‌ای این سازمان و سرمنشیان کل برخی سازمان‌های اقتصادی چندجانبه در این نشست شرکت خواهند کرد.

افغانستان عضو سازمان ایکو‌است، اما اجلاس این سازمان پس از روی‌کارآمدن امارت اسلامی، بدون حضور نمایندگان افغانستان برگزار شده است.

ایران در سال ۲۰۲۴ میلادی ریاست دوره‌ای سازمان همکاری ایکو‌ را برعهده دارد.

سخنگوی وزارت امور خارجه خاطرنشان نمود که نشست وزرای ایکو‌ دومین اجلاس وزیران یک سازمان بین‌المللی در ۶ ماه اخیر است که به میزبانی ایران برگزار می‌شود.

با این‌حال وزارت خارجه‌ی ایران درباره‌ی اشتراک امارت اسلامی در نشست مشهد چیزی نگفته است.

وزارت خارجه‌ امارت اسلامی هم تا اکنون درباره‌ی این نشست چیزی نگفته است.