Pakistan will seek co-operation from the international community in areas of internal security, infrastructure development and poverty alleviation, with special attention on Pakhtoonkhwa and Balochistan provinces. This was decided in a meeting at the Presidency here Wednesday, which was jointly chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
It reviewed the progress on the preparatory work for the Friends of Democratic Pakistan conference to be held in Tokyo on April 17, in which President Zardari will represent Pakistan Those who participated in the meeting included Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Advisor to PM on Finance Shaukat Tarin, Secretary General Salman Farooqi, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Presidents spokesperson Farhatullah Babar.
It was emphasised in the meeting that to make the war against militancy a success it was necessary to comprehensively address the security and development issues in Pakhtoonkhwah and Balochistan provinces in the proposed package.
He said that Pakhtoonkhwah province bore the brunt of the war on terror and its development and security needs must be seriously addressed. He expressed the hope that the forthcoming meeting of Friends of Pakistan will view positively Pakistans requirements to successfully overcome the challenges posed by militancy.
The countries and international bodies included in the Friends of Pakistan group are US, UK, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, EU, EC and UN. The Friends of Democratic Pakistan provides a forum to friendly countries to build strategic partnership with Pakistan to foster peace and stability in the region, promote economic stability and address energy needs.