DUSHANBE, October 5, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Sir William Patey, British Ambassador to Afghanistan visited Dushanbe on October 2-3, the British Embassy in Dushanbe said

During his visit, Sir William Patey met Erkin Rahmatulloyev, State Adviser to the President of Tajikistan for Foreign Policy; General Ramil Nadyrov, First Deputy Minister of Defence; and officials of the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Sir William Patey also met with Abdulghafour Arezou, Ambassador of Afghanistan to Tajikistan, and members of the international development community.  He was accompanied to these meetings by the British Ambassador to Tajikistan, Trevor Moore.

The purpose of Sir William Patey’s visit was to familiarize himself further with Tajikistan’s policy towards Afghanistan.  During his meetings Sir William Patey also described British policy towards Afghanistan and the wider region.  The Tajik and British sides agreed they had a largely common approach to seeking peace and stability in Afghanistan and the wider region and agreed to continue detailed discussions on this subject in future.