JOINT STATEMENT
Breakfast meeting between the Prime
Minister of Pakistan and the President of Afghanistan
Picture--Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Gillani
The Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, His Excellency Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani and the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, His Excellency Mr. Hamid Karzai met over breakfast today on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit in Colombo. The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere.
The President and the Prime Minister recalled the strong bonds of brotherhood between Pakistan and Afghanistan and exchanged views on the common challenges facing the two countries in terms of dealing with terrorism and militancy
.
Both sides agreed that there was a need for the two governments to engage on all issues across the board with a view to developing a common strategy to overcome the challenges posed to the security and stability of both countries by terrorism and extremism. The two sides agreed to coordinate their efforts to stop cross border terrorism.
Picture:President Karzai
The Prime Minister and the President decided that their respective Foreign Ministers will meet to prepare grounds for a framework for close and constructive engagement between the two countries to build confidence and develop a common strategy at the political, military and intelligence levels in collaboration with their coalition partners and NATO/ISAF.
The Prime Minister and the President also stressed the importance of closer bilateral engagement at the leadership level and, at Afghanistan’s suggestion, agreed that the engagement should also lead to expediting the process of convening the mini-Jirga, as soon as possible.
At the suggestion of Pakistan, the Afghan side agreed to re-engage on all bilateral and multilateral forums.
