President Ashraf Ghani met with his Uzbekistan counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Monday night and discussed bilateral relations between the two countries, the president’s office said in a statement.

The two leaders also discussed Tuesday’s Tashkent peace summit on Afghanistan, cooperation in the security section, regional connectivity and strengthening of bilateral relations over regional projects, the statement said.

It also said they discussed the Mazar-Herat railway and its economic importance for Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and other regional countries and the export of Afghanistan’s fresh fruit to Uzbekistan and on to Kazakhstan.

“President Ghani told Mirziyoyev that a stable and rich Afghanistan would be for the benefit of Uzbekistan,” read the statement. 

Ghani also said that holding the Tashkent summit on Afghanistan “would be a historical day and hoped that this effort resulted in peace and regional consensus for stability.”

On Monday, Afghan political leaders and members of the High Peace Council expressed hope and optimism that a renewed peace effort would emerge out of Tuesday’s Tashkent peace summit.

Talking on the significance of the peace conference on Monday, Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah expressed hope that the conference would lead to sustainable peace in Afghanistan.

The Tashkent summit is expected to be attended by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, UN Special Envoy to Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, as well as the foreign ministers of China, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Turkey, India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“The conference which is going to be held at a foreign ministers level has major importance. We hope that the conference proves helpful in meeting the aspirations of the people of Afghanistan,” said Abdullah.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Afghanistan’s parliament are also hoping the Tashkent peace summit on Afghanistan will outline a comprehensive strategy to help end the war in the country.

The US department of state has said that at the Tashkent summit, the international community will renew its commitment to peace in Afghanistan and to the resumption of talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini has also voiced support over the peace process in Afghanistan.

She said that the role of Central Asian countries is crucial in the peace process in the country.

This comes on the heels of the recent Kabul Process meeting where Afghan President Ashraf Ghani laid out a detailed peace offer to the Taliban.

The conference will be summed up by a Tashkent Declaration, that will reflect the main points of the discussion.

Uzbekistan hosted the first peace conference on Afghanistan in 1999.