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Saturday, November 19, 2011
Pakistan has no hidden agenda in Afghanistan, says Khar* Foreign minister claims Pakistan being made scapegoat in Afghan crisis
* German FM says his country is ready to cooperate with Pakistan for its development
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Friday that Pakistan had no hidden agenda in Afghanistan and was only interested in a peaceful and stable disposition there.
Addressing a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle after holding talks at the Foreign Office, Hina Rabbani Khar said that the onus lay with the Afghan people and that it was up to Kabul if it wanted Pakistan’s supportive role or not.
“We are part of the solution in Afghanistan and ready to play our due role in improving peace, security and development there,” she added. She said that there was a tendency of negative narratives against Pakistan regarding the Afghan issue and added that the mistrust was more readily available in newspapers than behind closed-door negotiations.
She said that Pakistan was being made a “scapegoat” in the Afghan crisis and was being criticised without any justification.
She claimed that Pakistan was committed to making all-out efforts to maintain trust, and added, “We have been pursuing our Afghan brothers and are waiting for their signal” in this regard.
The foreign minister, while giving details about the bilateral talks, said that the parleys were very constructive and positive and added that relations had improved substantially over the last few years.
Hina Rabbani Khar stated that there had been tremendous improvement in trade between the two countries, whose volume had risen to 2.2 billion dollars, which was in favour of Pakistan.
She said that investment from Germany to Pakistan had also increased and that Germany was now the fifth largest foreign investor.
She appreciated the support of Germany at the European Union (EU) for concessions and more access to EU markets for Pakistani products. She said that the two countries discussed the further improvement of cooperation in the energy sector.
Referring to the Bonn Conference, Khar said that Pakistan would continue to play a constructive role in Afghanistan.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that he had discussed the Afghan issue and Pak-German bilateral relations with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. He said that Germany was ready to cooperate with Pakistan and work together for the development of the economy as an equal partner.
He said that this was his second visit to Pakistan during this year and that it had provided an opportunity to express solidarity with the flood victims.
Guido Westerwelle said that the meeting was fruitful in terms of concrete discussion on several issues, including cooperation in energy, education and technical training.
He claimed that Germany wanted to strengthen bilateral ties in diverse areas, including vocational training and education of youth.
He noted that during the last two years, Germany had come out of the economic crisis successfully and that one of the important reasons in this regard was a segment of vocationally trained people in society. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk