The UN Conference On Afghanistan Opens In Bonn On Tuesday At 12:00, Moscow Time

The UN conference on Afghanistan opens in the Petersberg residence in Bonn on Tuesday at 12:00, Moscow time. The ceremony of the opening of the conference will be attended by German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joschka Fischer. He will do it at the request of UN special representative for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi who will conduct the conference behind closed doors, said spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry Andreas Mihaelis in Berlin. According to him, the conference, scheduled for three days, has an official name - Talks on Afghanistan - and it will be attended only by Afghan representatives - without the participation of the delegations of other countries. The spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry pointed out that the aim was to form a transitory government as quickly as possible. The conference in Bonn, apart from the delegation of the Northern Alliance, is attended by representatives of former Afghan King Zahir Shah (the Rome group), the delegates of the Afghan Diaspora from Cyprus (the Cyprus group) and representatives of the Pashtoons (the Peshawar group). The conference is covered by more than a thousand reporters from different countries.