Updated on
Summary
Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to set up a joint commission comprising Army, Intelligence agencies and foreign offices of both the countries to maintain regional peace. Both the countries have also agreed to boost interaction in agriculture and energy sectors. This was stated by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Afghanistan counterpart Zalmai Rasoul at a joint press conference in Islamabad on Thursday following their talks. Qureshi said both sides discussed Security situation and Reconciliation and Reintegration in Afghanistan.He said it was agreed that peace and security in Afghanistan cannot be achieved by use of military force alone and political reconciliation, economic development are important part of the strategy to achieve these objectives.He said it was agreed to establish Pakistan and Afghanistan Information and Cultural foundation which will be co-chaired by Culture Ministers of the two countries.He said both sides have also discussed cooperation in Consular access. He said there are a large number of Pakistanis detained in Afghan prisoners. Consular access will facilitate them and help in their repatriation on case to case basis.He described his talks with his Afghan counterpart as positive, constructive and far reaching.The Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul said his country has now very comprehensive relationship with Pakistan and day by day these are improving for the good of the two people. He said we have full cooperation by the Pakistan government and we have to defeat terrorism. He said they discussed Peace Jirga in Afghanistan and said Pakistan is supportive of peace process in his country. He said now we are on the stage of implementation of more and more projects in Afghanistan.Both the leaders also discussed trilateral meeting scheduled to be held in Washington next month.
