By IRNA,
Islamabad : The first ever Inter-Parliamentary Dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan was initiated in Islamabad on Wednesday between the Senate Foreign Relations Committee headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed and the International Affairs Committee of the Upper House of Afghanistan, headed by Syed Hamid Gillani.
The two delegations met for about four hours and held free and frank discussion on the relations between the two countries including highlighting concerns prevailing in both the countries about these relations.
Later, Senator Mushahid Hussain hosted a lunch in honour of the visiting delegation which was largely attended by members of parliament, academics, media and NGO representatives in Islamabad .
The visiting Afghan delegation also called on Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, Prime Minister of Pakistan at the Prime Minister’s House.
The Prime Minister informed the delegation that a day earlier, he had sanctioned export of 50,000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan on a concessional rate, which was lower than the rate prevailing in Pakistan.
The Afghan delegation also called on the President Parvez Musharraf in Rawalpindi on Wednesday and held very open discussion with him on the prevailing situation in Afghanistan.
The President also appraised the delegation about the war against terrorism including the situation prevailing in the tribal areas adjoining Afghanistan .
The last round of talks between the Afghan side and Senator Mushahid Hussain was held on Wednesday in which an institutional framework was agreed upon whereby the two sides would meet every six months alternating between Islamabad and Kabul to continue the historic parliamentary dialogue that commenced in Islamabad on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 .
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was also signed between the two sides.
The next meeting of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Parliamentary Dialogue would take place in Kabul in November 2008.