MOSCOW, September 10. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia proposes to hold a conference in its territory on Afghanistan under the Shanghai Cooperation Organization aegis.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday that Russia would present the proposal at the SCO summit in Dushanbe on September 11-12.

“We plan to state about our readiness to organize in Russia a high-level conference under the SCO aegis on Afghanistan with participation of member states, observers, dialogue partners and representatives from other interested countries and international organizations,” he said. He expected the idea to be discussed at the Dushanbe summit.

The Kremlin official said much attention would be traditionally paid at the summit to the situation in Afghanistan, which is an SCO observer since 2012. It is on the agenda of the SCO head of state meeting planned for September 12.

“We hope that after the discussion a consolidated position of SCO member states will be formulated," he said. The SCO countries "advocate Afghanistan being an independent, neutral and peaceful state and support the United Nations central and coordinating role in efforts for settlement in Afghanistan and assistance for Afghan people.”

The last conference on Afghanistan under the SCO aegis took place in Moscow in March 2009.