By IRNA,
Islamabad : President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Thursday announced Pakistan’s full support for the Afghan led process of political reconciliation and efforts for the stability of the neighboring country.
Talking to the Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, both leaders reiterated that Pakistan believes in policy of neutrality and non-interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and stands for stable, prosperous and peaceful Afghanistan.
President Zardari urged for joint efforts to overcome all issues together that have disturbed our peace, security and stability as there was no outside solution to bring stability and peace to our regions.
Briefing the media Spokesperson to the President, Farhatullah Babar, said that matters relating to Pak-Afghan bilateral relations, security situation in Afghanistan, Afghan refugee issue and Pak Afghan transit trade agreement were discussed during the meeting.
He emphasized the need to establish trans-Afghanistan corridors of trade and transit, energy and infrastructure to underpin the commercial ties between the two countries.
He said that he has been urging the international community to help create economic opportunities for the people of both Afghanistan and Pakistan as a tool for fighting militancy.
He hoped that socio-economic conducive environment in Afghanistan will be created to enable the refugees return to their homes.
He also hoped that the refugees would be factored in any integration process.
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, while expressing his satisfaction over the deepening of bilateral engagements between Pakistan and Afghanistan in a comprehensive manner, stressed the need for uniting the efforts of both countries to effectively deal with the issues that have disturbed the peace, security and stability in the region.
The Prime Minister also called for fast tracking the connectivity projects in Rail and Road sectors between Pakistan and Afghanistan and for joint efforts to make progress on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipelines, Central Asia-South Asia (CASA 1000) electricity transmission lines and for constructing the Pakistani city of Chitral to Tajikistan road through Wakhan corridor.
Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul thanked Pakistani leaders for their steadfast support to Afghan government’s plans for promoting reconciliation and reintegration and for giving his consent to form a Joint Reconciliation Commission to help the process move forward.
The Afghan Foreign Minister noted that the continuous dialogue and increased people to people contacts between the two sides since then had nurtured the result oriented cooperation between the two countries.
He assured Pakistani President and the Prime Minister that government and people of Afghanistan are fully committed to promote these ties to even higher levels and were grateful to the government of Pakistan’s cooperation for attaining that goal.