ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Foreign Office on Tuesday said that there was no trust deficit between Pakistan and Afghanistan, adding that two Counties had friendly and brotherly relations.
Talking to state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) in Islamabad, the Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said that there was “no trust-deficit” with Iran and Afghanistan. He said that Pakistan had friendly and brotherly relations with them.
However, he said that some terrorist outfits were operating from Afghanistan’s soil and were carrying out their nefarious activities in Pakistan.
The spokesman stressed the need for strict border management with Afghanistan to check the flow of people from both sides of the border. He said that both Pakistan and Afghanistan considered terrorism as their joint enemy.
His statement come as Pakistan was hosting the 13th Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) Summit in Islamabad on March 1; however, neither the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani nor the Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah would attend the Conference, mainly over issues related to terror sanctuaries and cross border terrorism.
Though the Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan and the President’s Special Envoy Dr Omar Zakhilwal was attending the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Ministers of the ECO in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Talking about the 13th ECO Summit in Islamabad, Zakaria said the timings of holding of ECO’s 13th Head of State Summit and 22nd Council of Ministers Meeting was significant as the strategically important region was in the global spotlight.
Nafees Zakaria said that being geographically located at the crossroads of South, Central and West Asia, Pakistan could act as an important economic and energy corridor in the region.
“With rich resources and human capital, the region has immense potential, and Pakistan can play an important role in benefitting the regional countries of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO),” he said.
The spokesman said that all the ECO member states were fully cognizant of the potential of this region and were focusing their energies to together achieve the targets of development.
Zakaria said that five heads of state and three heads of government would be attending the main ECO Summit on Wednesday.
