Pakistan, US agree to continue strategic dialogue

The visiting US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan March Grossman and Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar agreed on Thursday to continue their dialogue process, disrupted due to tension in recent months. Marc Grossman and Hina Rabbani Khar told a joint press conference after their talks in Islamabad that they have discussed bilateral relations and decided that the working groups on host of issues in the Strategic Dialogue of both the countries will continue to meet in future. Both the leaders held discussion on Pak-US ties with special reference to Afghanistan and the current regional and international issues, and exchanged views on the forthcoming meetings in Istanbul on November 2 and in Bonn on December 5 on peace and security in the region. They also agreed to pursue bilateral cooperation in different fields for which working groups had been formed. Foreign Minister Khar said, 'Pakistan and US relations are very important at bilateral level and now due to war against terrorism, these ties are more important at global level.' She said these relations are important for both the countries and are in their interests. The Minister said both the countries are engaged with each other bilaterally to strengthen the dialogue process for peace and security in the region and at global level. She said the forthcoming peace conferences scheduled at Istanbul on November 2 and in Bonn on December 5, were also discussed and Pakistan assured that it wants to play important and constructive role in these conferences to ensure peace and security in the region. The US Special envoy said strong bilateral relations of the two countries are important both for United States and Pakistan as these are in the best interest of these countries. He said technical working groups, formed by the two countries which had been meeting in the past, would also hold meetings in future to further enhance cooperation in these fields. He said efforts are being made to identify the interests of the two countries in the bilateral relations and expressed the hope that both countries would work together and coordinate with each other through strategic dialogue process. Grossman said besides discussing bilateral relations with the foreign minister, the peace conferences of Istanbul and Bonn were also discussed so that Pakistan should be included in the peace process and it is an important country to play due role for the peace and security in the region. He said success of these two conferences would be helpful in ensuring peace and security, not only in Afghanistan but would also promote peace in the region and the world. The US envoy said he also visited Central Asian States, Afghanistan, China and India before coming to Pakistan and brought a message of hope and support from the regional countries for peace and security in the region. Marc Grossman who arrived here this morning on a day-long visit, also held meetings with President Asiaf Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and discussed bilateral matters. He said these meetings remained very useful and constructive to promote interaction with Pakistan to ensure peace and security in region.