News
Friday, October 14, 2011
Pakistan, US pledge to strengthen alliance* Khar, Grossman decide that working groups will continue to meet in future
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman on Thursday agreed to strengthen the dialogue process for peace and security in the region and at global level.
Addressing a joint press conference at the Foreign Office, Khar and Grossman said that they have discussed bilateral relations with special reference to Afghanistan. Both sides agreed to continue their dialogue process and vowed to carry on strategic dialogue mechanism as it is in the interest of both the countries
Khar and Grossman also decided that the working groups of both the countries would continue to meet in future and also agreed to pursue bilateral cooperation in different fields for which working groups had been formed.
She said the forthcoming peace conferences, scheduled in Istanbul on November 2 and in Bonn on December 5, were also discussed and Pakistan assured that it want to play important and constructive role in these conferences to ensure peace and security in the region.
Khar said, “Pakistan and US relations are very important at bilateral level and now due to war against terrorism, these ties are more important at global level.”
She said these relations are important for both the countries and are in their interests.
Grossman appreciated Pakistan’s struggle against militancy and reaffirmed the US commitment to a long-term and enduring partnership with Pakistan.
“We agreed that we can continue in a systematic way to find shared issues that we share with Pakistan – and there are many – and act jointly on them,” he said.
Grossman said strong bilateral relations of the two countries are important both for the United States and Pakistan as these were in the best interest of these countries.
The special representative, who arrived on Thursday morning on a daylong visit, also held meetings with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and President Asif Ali Zardari. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk