By EuAsiaNews
Brussels : The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) hopes that after the formation of a new government in Pakistan,the Alliance’s political ties with Islamabad will be strengthened.
“We have very close relationship with Pakistan on the military side and a growing relationship with Pakistan in the political sphere which I hope that it will take a step forward, which I know will take a
step forward again once a government is formed,” NATO spokesperson James Appathurai told a news conference in Brussels Wednesday afternoon.
He said that a high-level meeting on Afghanistan will be held during the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, in April.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai and EU leaders are also expected to attend the meeting.
But Pakistan has not been invited to this meeting because it is designed for troop-contributing nations, major donors and international organizations, Appathurai told his weekly press briefing.
He explained that Pakistan is not a troop-contributing nation to NATO’s ISAF mission in Afghanistan.
NATO has over 40,000 troops from 40 nations under ISAF.
Meanwhile, leaders of the 26-member Alliance are expected to discuss NATO enlargement, missile defence system and developments in Afghanistan and Kosovo during their 3-day summit from 2-4 April.