Murray McCully

Wellington, Jan 22 NZPA - Foreign Minister Murray McCully is to attended a high-level conference on Afghanistan in England next week, stopping off in Vietnam on the way.

The conference in London is being co-chaired by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Spanta.

Foreign ministers from nations contributing to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, representatives of neighbouring countries, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Afghanistan's President Karzai will attend the event.

In Hanoi, Mr McCully will meet Vietnamese officials.

Vietnam will chair ASEAN and the East Asia Summit this year, which marks the 35th anniversary of diplomatic bilateral relationships between the countries, Mr McCully said.