The Turkmen side calls on the international community, and first of all, the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to provide maximum assistance to the Afghan people.  This was announced during the emergency meeting on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, which took place last Sunday in Islamabad, the website of the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan reports.

 The forum was attended by the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of the OIC member countries, representatives of international organizations, including the UN, the European Union and the World Bank and others.  The Turkmen delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Vepa Khadzhiev.

 The purpose of the meeting is to draw the attention of the international community to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, as well as to discuss joint urgent steps that need to be taken.

 During his speech, Khadzhiev mentioned the timeliness of holding this forum in the current situation, when the socio-economic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is in a critical state.

 It was also reported about the support that Turkmenistan provides to neighboring Afghanistan by sending humanitarian aid on a systematic basis, as well as the construction of socio-economic facilities aimed at ensuring well-being on Afghan soil.

 Thus, the importance of the projects for the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) power transmission line, aimed at strengthening stability and security in this country, and developing its socio-economic infrastructure, was especially emphasized.  They also noted the stable implementation and gradual build-up of electricity supplies to neighboring Afghanistan by Turkmenistan.

 Within the framework of the meeting, the Turkmen side once again reaffirmed its readiness to continue interaction with all interested parties in this direction and proposed to create an OIC working group on humanitarian issues in Afghanistan.

 Turkmenistan also called for convening an international conference on humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan under the auspices of the UN in order to discuss the development of a consolidated approach to cooperation with international organizations and financial institutions.