Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday agreed to engage diplomats, military and intelligence officers from both sides through a 'joint commission' for achieving regional peace, as terrorism has made them suffer enormously. The commission will promote understanding and boost the on-going engagement process, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said while addressing a joint press briefing along with his Afghan counterpart Zalmay Rassoul.
Qureshi said that Rassoul came to Islamabad on his invitation to discuss and formulate a joint strategy for Afghanistan-Pakistan-United States Trilateral Dialogue, to be held on February 22-24 in Washington. The visiting Foreign Minister also called on the Prime Minister and the President.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that they had reaffirmed the commitment for implementation of Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement. "We have also agreed to establish a process of consultation between the Planning Commission of Pakistan and the Afghan Ministry of Economy to work out mutually beneficial projects for socio-economic development of our people," he added.
Qureshi enumerated energy, agriculture mines and minerals, establishment of vocational training centers and special industrial zones potential areas of mutual benefit. "We are critical for each other and need each other more than anybody else, and recent process of consultation is helping to write a new chapter of our bilateral relations," he added. Zalamy Rassoul referred to a recent statement of President Hamid Karzai that without good relations with Pakistan there can be no peace in Afghanistan and said they were moving towards a new relationship. In response to a question regarding peace process in Afghanistan, Zalmay Rassoul said the two-prong process of reintegration and reconciliation was for those who had respect for the constitution of Afghanistan, human rights and women rights.
Later in the day, a joint statement was issued by the ministry of foreign affairs according to which both sides decided to establish a Joint Working Group, comprising of their respective Trade officials to meet in Islamabad in the near future. The authorities of the two countries would also study the modalities for establishing a Joint Consultation, Co-ordination and Co-operation Mechanism with a view to devising Framework Agreements for co-operation in the fields of joint development especially in energy, agriculture, mines and minerals and for establishment of Vocational Training Centres and Special Industrial Zones to promote common development and shared prosperity, it said.
Pakistan supports the on-going efforts of the Government of Afghanistan under the leadership of President Hamid Karzai for promoting reconciliation and peace and welcomed the establishment of the High Peace Council under the chairmanship of Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani.
This process must be Afghan-owned and Afghan-led. Pakistan was prepared to extend assistance, as may be required, to facilitate and promote this process, it said. Both sides emphasised the importance of promoting regional co-operation for development. In this context, they attached special significance to the early realisation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Gas Pipeline as well as the establishment of electricity transmission lines from Central Asia over Afghanistan to Pakistan.