News
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Pakistan, Turkey to upgrade strategic partnership, jointly defeat terrorism* Zardari says both countries to pay attention to re-energising trade relations
* Gul expresses gratitude for warm welcome, hospitality extended to him, his delegationStaff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Turkey on Wednesday resolved to comprehensively upgrade their strategic partnership, intensify political and economic cooperation and jointly defeat terrorism.
During a joint stake-out following the delegation-level talks at the Presidency, President Zardari and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul condemned extremism and terrorism and reiterated their resolve “to jointly defeat this menace” that continues to claim innocent lives.
Zardari said that during the talks, the two sides expressed their commitment to boosting relations in areas of economy, trade, investment, agriculture, infrastructure development, industry, culture, education, defence and people-to-people contacts.
Attention: Mentioning the potential to expand economic relations, Zardari said “we have decided to pay special attention to re-energising our trade relations and are determined to fully exploit it for the mutual benefit of our peoples and for meeting the agreed targets”.
He said he and President Gul held identical views on Afghanistan. “We will continue to lend our sincere support to Afghanistan’s national efforts for achieving durable peace, prosperity and sustainable development,” he said, adding that Pakistan greatly valued its strategic partnership with Turkey, which is rooted in shared interests, common concerns and convergence of perceptions on regional and global issues. “I am grateful to President Gul for his commitment to further strengthening our special relationship. I assure him of our steadfast support in achieving this objective,” he said.
Gratitude: Gul expressed gratitude for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to him and his delegation during their stay in Pakistan.
Briefing the media about the meeting, the president’s spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, said Zardari had emphasised the need for upgrading communication links to further boost trade, commerce and people-to-people contacts.
He said the existing rail link needed to be upgraded so as to cut the travel time between the two countries.
President Zardari said the upgradation of the existing rail link would open up and connect vast European and Asian markets to the benefit of not only Pakistan and Turkey, but also of all the people in the region. He suggested that the train may be named after the Turkish President and be called ‘Gul Train’, adding that the proposed 6500 km Islamabad-Istanbul rail link would vastly improve regional connectivity. As per the decision taken during the ECO Ministerial meeting in Tehran in March last year, the demonstration run of the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul container train was launched on August 14 last year.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk