ISLAMABAD: Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi Saturdayemphasized the need to improve coordination among the law enforcementinstitutions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, intelligence sharing and avoidingblame game to defeat terrorism.
The foreign minister said this during his bilateral meetings with AfghanPresident Muhammad Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah andAfghan Foreign Minster Salahuddin Rabbani during his visit to Kabul for the2nd Pakistan-China-Afghanistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ dialogue inKabul, a Foreign Office statement said.
He discussed with the Afghan leadership, the recent efforts for initiatingpeace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan and assured Pakistan’ssupport for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.
He said that Pakistan along with other regional and internationalstakeholders would take steps to facilitate intra-Afghan dialogue in goodfaith.
The foreign minister underscored that bilateral engagement remained themost viable platform for addressing matters of mutual interest and in thisregard the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity(APAPPS) provided the most effective mechanism.
Underlining the importance of people to people contacts, the foreignminister proposed visits by national cricket teams of the two countries andexchange of poets, academia and organizing frequent cultural activities.
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Both sides exchanged views to further promote bilateral transit and trade.Qureshi underscored the importance of enhanced economic activity for thebetterment of people, particularly youth.
To follow-up on Saturday’s discussions on economic and trade cooperation,the Afghan finance minister will be visiting Pakistan in near future.
The Afghan leadership appreciated Pakistan’s positive role in advancing thecause of Afghan peace process and agreed to take joint steps forstrengthening bilateral ties and agreed to expand cooperation andcoordination against terrorism. They also agreed to use APAPPS mechanism toenhance institutional engagement between the two countries in all areas ofcooperation.
