Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar and the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Argentina Garcia Moritan in their first ever bilateral political consultations in Buenos Aires on Thursday reaffirmed their strong desire to deepen and broaden bilateral co-operation and expand mutually beneficial ties in diverse fields.
The consultations were held in a cordial atmosphere and both sides noted with satisfaction the steady evolution of the bilateral relationship and the progress achieved since President Musharraf's visit to Argentina in December 2004, says a message received here on Thursday.
The two sides agreed on a range of measures to increase high-level exchanges, strengthen the political dialogue, and intensify bilateral economic and commercial linkages.
They underscored the importance of reinforcing their growing political and economic ties with exchanges in the academic, cultural, sports and science and technology fields and stressed the need to continue the process of political consultations on a regular basis.
Minister of State Khusro Bakhtyar and Deputy Foreign Minister Garcia Moritan further noted with satisfaction the convergence of positions of Pakistan and Argentina on a broad range of multilateral issues and close co-operation between the two countries on global issues, including United Nations reform process and Security Council reforms.
A detailed exchange of views took place on regional issues of common interest. Pakistan gave a briefing on the developments in the Composite Dialogue with India.
The Argentine side expressed support for the dialogue process and efforts for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions and the principles of the UN Charter.
Deputy Foreign Minister Garcia Moritan referred to the current situation on the question of Malvinas Islands, and thanked Pakistan for its support to the peaceful settlement of the issue through bilateral negotiations as called for in the UN and GAS resolutions.
During his stay in Buenos Aires, Minister for State Khusro Bakhtyar met with Foreign Minister of Argentina Jorge Taiana and discussed matters of mutual interest.
He delivered an invitation from Foreign Minister of Pakistan Khurshid M Kasuri to the Foreign Minister of Argentina Jorge Taiana inviting him to Pakistan in the near future.
During the visit, a co-operation agreement was signed between the Foreign Service Academy of Pakistan and the Foreign Service Institute of Argentina.