Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao will attend a special international meeting on Afghanistan set to begin Friday in Moscow, while Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei plans to attend a separate international meeting on Afghanistan on March 31 in The Hague.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang announced the trips Tuesday at a regular press conference.

Qin said the Moscow meeting was the first international meeting on the Afghanistan issue organized by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

It will focus on fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime.

Russia is the current rotating chair of the SCO, which also includes China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the Kyrghyz Republic and Tajikistan.

"China will elaborate its principled positions on the three topics and put forth concrete suggestions," he added.

The UN-sponsored conference in The Hague will draw members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the International Security Assistance Force, donors and nations that have regional, strategic and transit positions vis-a-vis Afghanistan, and international organizations, to contribute to stabilizing Afghanistan and fighting the Taliban-led insurgency.

This year will be crucial for Afghanistan, which is scheduled to hold presidential and provincial elections in August amid deteriorating security conditions and a rising Taliban-led insurgency.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2009)