Zhao Xing, China's Ambassador to Afghanistan, announced that he met Tomas Niklasson, the European Union's Special Envoy for Afghanistan, with the third Doha meeting round the corner.

Xing stated that strengthening cooperation with Afghanistan was discussed during this meeting.

“Great pleasure to meet with EU Special Representative for Afghanistan Tomas Niklasson and exchange views on strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Afghanistan,” wrote the Chinese ambassador on X social media platform.

Niklasson had recently visited Kabul and met the officials of the Taliban and other regional countries.

He has previously discussed the third round of Doha talks on Afghanistan with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's Foreign Minister, and Gholamreza Najari, the Deputy of the Islamic Republic Embassy in Kabul.

The third round of the Doha talks, hosted by the United Nations, is expected to take place in Qatar on June 30 and July 1. Special representatives from regional and international countries are expected to participate in the upcoming meeting.

The Taliban officials did not participate in the second round of this meeting. However, recently, the group's foreign minister emphasised on the importance of "meaningful participation" by the Taliban in this meeting. He stated that they would announce their position regarding attendance or non-attendance at the third Doha meeting.