The conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan is negatively affecting regional trade and economic cooperation due to the closure of their shared border, Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Albert Khorev has said.

Axar.az reports, citing TASS, that Khorev stressed that tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan affect not only Islamabad and Kabul but the entire region.

“The closure of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has led to a halt or a serious deterioration in Pakistan’s trade relations with the countries of Central Asia and Russia,” Khorev said at a conference at the Islamabad Institute of Strategic Studies.

“We hope that the situation will be settled and the [Pakistani-Afghan] border will reopen soon,” he added.

Earlier, Zamir Kabulov, the Russian president’s special representative for Afghanistan, said Moscow was ready to provide any assistance to end the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan if both sides made such a request.