(Kazan, August 19, Tatar-Inform). The United States welcomes Russia’ s cooperation with Afghanistan and Pakistan, Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State, said, commenting on a meeting between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on Wednesday, August 18, Itar-Tass reports.

“Afghanistan and Pakistan are both countries with profound needs,” Crowley said at a press briefing. “And the United States cannot meet these needs by itself.”

The Obama administration has “a regional strategy for both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Russia can play an important role along with other countries in the region,” he said.

“So we welcome this kind of interaction and we welcome the international commitment by Russia and other countries that is represented by this meeting,” Crowley said.

Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said earlier that the main purpose of the summit in Sochi was to “to discuss the issues in the political, trade, economic and other fields, that are pressing for the participants, as well as firm up and further develop the accords reached in Dushanbe in the course of the meeting in the same format on July 30, 2009.

The presidents discussed “the stepping up of regional cooperation in the efforts to assist the stabilization of the situation in Afghanistan and on the Afghan-Pakistani border, with the participation of authoritative organizations, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Collective Security Treaty Organization,” he said.

The first four-party summit within such format was held last summer in Dushanbe. At that point, the Russian leader noted that a new format of cooperation was being born. He stressed that all main issues - from economic cooperation to fight against drug trafficking and terrorism - could be discussed in such format.

The Russian President expressed an opinion that international financial institutions could join such projects.

The negotiators emphasized the need for mapping out ways and means of promoting regional trade, increasing the inflow of foreign investments and implementation of projects in hydropower energy. Besides, the presidents discussed projects of pooling transport, communication and energy networks of the four states.

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