TEHRAN - Officials from Pakistan, China and Afghanistan held a meeting in Kabul on Monday to discuss cooperation in various fields, said a statement by Afghanistan’s foreign ministry.

The trilateral meeting was presided over by Afghanistan’s deputy foreign minister Idrees Zaman in which the three sides discussed agreements on practical cooperation mechanism between them.

The respective envoys of China and Pakistan represented their countries in the meeting, said reports.

The trilateral forum at the level of foreign ministers was launched in 2017 at the initiative of China when relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan had hit a low.

In December last year, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi joined his Afghan and Chinese counterparts Salahuddin Rabbani and Wang Yi at the second Afghanistan-China-Pakistan foreign ministers’ dialogue in Kabul.

In the December talks, the three countries had agreed to counter terrorist financing, recruitment and training, besides strengthening trilateral cooperation for counter-terrorism capacity building, denying the access of internet to terrorists, taking joint steps for deradicalization and working together to break the nexus between narco trade and terror financing.

The officials at Monday’s meeting reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening relations, increasing cooperation in various fields, advancing connectivity under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of Chinese government and other regional economic initiatives, said sources.

Pakistan, an important neighbor of Afghanistan, plays a key role in Afghanistan’s peace process and economic development. China, a regional heavyweight, has increased its engagement in the war-torn country with gradual withdrawal of the U.S.