Lavrov to visit China on March 31 - Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit China on March 31, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

"The third ministerial conference of countries neighboring Afghanistan, which are Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, will take place in China on March 31," Zakharova said at a press briefing in Moscow on Thursday.

Lavrov will head the Russian delegation, she said.

"Said meeting will provide a good opportunity for discussing the coordination of regional efforts on the humanitarian and socioeconomic track of assistance to Afghanistan and for comparing approaches toward countering the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking," Zakharova said.

"A dialogue between the foreign policy chiefs of the countries neighboring Afghanistan and a Taliban [designated as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia] delegation, as well as a regular meeting of the Extended Troika on Afghanistan at the level of special representatives, namely Russia, China, the U.S., and Pakistan, are planned on the sidelines of the event," Zakharova said.