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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Gilani-Karzai meeting was a positive exchange of views: FO

ISLAMABAD: Commenting on speculative media reports on the meeting between Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and President Hamid Karzai, the Foreign Office on Saturday said that this bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit in Maldives was held in a cordial atmosphere and provided a good opportunity for a frank and indepth exchange of views.
A Foreign Office spokesperson, in a statement issued on Saturday, said that Gilani recounted Pakistan’s consistent efforts to have the best of relations with Afghanistan and the several initiatives taken in this regard.
The prime minister stated that Pakistan supported an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process of reconciliation and that it would continue to work constructively for strengthening friendly and brotherly relations with Afghanistan. Gilani said that it was for Afghanistan to specify and lead the process of reconciliation. The prime minister noted that Professor Rabbani’s tragic assassination constituted a setback to the process and added that Professor Rabbani had been a highly respected friend of Pakistan.
President Karzai affirmed the importance that Afghanistan attached to its relations with Pakistan. Both sides agreed that the decisions reached at the recent Istanbul Trilateral Summit should be implemented. The spokesperson added that Pakistan had always demonstrated goodwill towards Afghanistan and believed that reinvigoration of a cooperative approach was important and that the Maldives bilateral meeting was a step in that direction. app

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

 

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