Skip to main content

Pak, US agree to remain engaged on Afghan peace process

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States (US) on Monday agreed to continue the engagement on Afghan peace process and strengthening bilateral ties, the Foreign Office (FO) said. 

The understanding reached at an important meeting wherein Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, US Secretary of State’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation and Ambassador Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, held delegation level talks with Pakistani officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a day earlier.

As per a handout issued by the ministry, the two sides reviewed recent developments regarding the Afghan peace process. It was underlined that this was a historic opportunity to end the prolonged Afghan conflict for which all Afghan stake-holders as well as Afghanistan’s neighbours had an important role to play.

“Pakistan reiterated its support for intra-Afghan dialogue, which is vital to move the process forward. It was highlighted that the prospective agreement in Afghanistan must contribute to bringing lasting peace and stability leading to international cooperation and development in Afghanistan.”

The delegation of Pakistan also emphasized the need for creating a conducive environment in Afghanistan for early and dignified return of Afghan refugees to their homeland, as per the FO’s statement.

The two sides reviewed the state of engagement and cooperation between Pakistan and the United States on a range of bilateral issues including political, economic and consular matters, the statement added.

As per the ministry, Additional Secretary Khokher emphasized the need to intensify engagement in the economic and trade cooperation. In this context, early convening of the next round of Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) meeting was emphasized. It was noted that the inter-sessional meeting would be held in Islamabad on 2 May 2019

The two US officials were visiting Islamabad as part of regular consultations on the Afghan peace process, Pakistan-US bilateral relationship and regional security situation.

The talks in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were led by Ambassador Aftab Khokher, Additional Secretary (Americas) from Pakistan’s side. Senior officials from Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence as well as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kabul were also present. Ambassador Wells and Ambassador Khalilzad were accompanied by an inter-agency delegation.

The post Pak, US agree to remain engaged on Afghan peace process appeared first on ARYNEWS.



from ARYNEWS http://bit.ly/2J3HBAr
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rouhani calls Imran, discusses resumption of trade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday discussed full resumption of bilateral trade, which was halted last month because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The two sides stressed the need to reactivate borders and border markets and strengthen trade ties by following health guidelines,” a statement issued by the Iranian presidency on the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr Hassan Rouhani said. President Rouhani had called the prime minister for Ramazan greetings. Border trade between the two countries was suspended after a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), held on March 13, decided to close all borders because of the pandemic. Islamabad partially relaxed the restrictions on April 21, allowing the import of certain food items and provision of petrol and diesel to the border areas. Cargo traffic from Iran was allowed for three days every week. Cargo movement between the two countries takes place through five border crossings — Taftan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Today’s outlook: Sindh CM discusses reopening markets with PM Khan

Here are some of the stories we are expecting to follow today (Thursday): Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will take Prime Minister Imran Khan into confidence over reopening shops and markets across the province. The reopened markets will have to follow SOPs. Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah will discuss SOPs with transporters for resuming public transport in the coming days. The meeting will be held at the Sindh Assembly building at 1:30pm. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has proposed a price cut of Rs20.68 per litre for petrol in its summary. Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais has said Masjid Al Haram and Masjid Al Nabawi will be reopened for worshipers soon. He said the Kaaba is being sterilised using latest technologies. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will head various meetings during his visit to Bahawalpur. As of Thursday, Pakistan has reported more than 15,500 confirmed coronavirus cases. ICYMI: An amendment to the National Accountability Or...
Post a Comment
Read more

If Pakistani elderly self-distance infections could drop 30%: study

If we do nothing, COVID-19 could infect 206 million Pakistanis and kill 691,000. This is the estimation of researchers from the Imperial College London COVID-19 Response Team who have published country-wise projections in a March 26 report ‘ The Global Impact of COVID-19 and Strategies for Mitigation and Suppression ’ Furthermore, using an infection fatality rate from China, this means 4.4 million Pakistanis would require hospitalisation and from among those, 917,000 individuals would require critical care. Pakistan has a population of 220 million people. The research is based on the infection fatality rate from China, country health care system capacities and that one person with coronavirus is likely to infect 3 others. (You can find the excel sheet with Pakistan numbers here: Imperial-College-COVID19-Global-unmitigated-mitigated-suppression-scenarios.xlsx ) Forty-seven researchers crunched the numbers and made these projections to give countries, including Pakistan, some idea of...
Post a Comment
Read more