By IRNA,
Berlin : German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will visit Thursday the French capital Paris where he is scheduled to attend the Afghan Compact Conference and will afterwards head to China for political talks, foreign ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told journalists here Wednesday.
The meeting in Paris is aimed at boosting international efforts to help stabilizing the political and security situation in Afghanistan, according to the German official.
Two years after a similar conference in London charted out an international plan to promote security, good governance and development, envoys from western and regional states will evaluate the remaining major challenges in Afghanistan which is still battling Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels more than six years after US-led troops toppled the Taliban regime.
Meanwhile, Steinmeier is to embark Thursday on a three-day visit to China for meeting with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
Talks will also focus on the working conditions for journalists, especially during the Olympic Games in Beijing, Jaeger said.
Steinmeier is also due to tour the quake-hit Sichuan Province to inspect the activities of German relief organizations, he added.
Jaeger reiterated Germany’s commitment to a “one-China policy.” A meeting between Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Dalai Lama at the chancellery in Berlin last September sparked a major crisis between China and Germany which was only resolved in January after intense behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts by Steinmeier.