Afghan president embarks on official visit to Russia

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is embarking on an official two-day visit to Russia on the invitation of President Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin press service said.

Talks between the two leaders are to be held Friday.

Karzai will be accompanied by a delegation of 80 officials, key ministers and businessmen. Following his visit, an agreement on trade and economic cooperation could be signed between the countries.

Karzai earlier said he was looking forward to visiting Moscow to hold talks on Russian-Afghan ties, including joint efforts in the fight against drugs and supplying humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

In mid-November, during the NATO summit in Lisbon, the Russian government approved an agreement with NATO allowing the alliance to carry supplies to and from Afghanistan via Russian territory.

The new deal on the so-called reverse transit allows NATO to ship armored vehicles and other equipment from Afghanistan back to Europe by the same route through Central Asia and Russia.

MOSCOW/KABUL, January 20 (RIA Novosti)