ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday that Pakistan and Egypt should work together closely for the common good of the Ummah and for peace in the region, Dispatch News Desk (DND) reported.
During an one-on-one meeting with Egyptian President Dr. Mohamed Morsi, who arrived in Islamabad on a state visit early in the day, President Zardari urged his Egyptian counterpart to help efforts to end the “bloodshed” in Syria and find a solution to the crisis.
Morsi’s one-day trip to Pakistan is the first bilateral visit by an Egyptian leader since Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1960s, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.
The Pakistani foreign ministry termed the Morsi’s visit a “watershed and a landmark” in relations between the two Muslim nations which would “give a new impetus to economic, trade and cultural relations”.
“President Morsi’s decision to choose Pakistan as the first South Asian country for a bilateral visit manifests Egypt’s desire to add a new chapter to its bilateral ties with Pakistan,” the ministry said.
President Zardari, at the meeting with Morsi, stressed that the drive for peace in Syria must be led and owned by the Syrian People and offered Pakistan’s readiness to play its role in finding a peaceful solution of the Syrian crisis, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement after the talks.
The President also appreciated Egypt for supporting the causes of the Muslim Ummah and its role for promoting regional peace and stability.
Babar said that President Asif Ali Zardari urged for concerted steps to bolster the existing broad and deep relationship between Pakistan and Egypt to new heights with focus on trade and investment ties.
The President said the Government and the people of Pakistan highly value their relations with their Egyptian brethren and were eager to translate the full potential of this relationship for the mutual benefit of the people of the two countries.
Meanwhile, President Morsi expressed his deep desire to cultivate close relations with Pakistan and stated that Pakistan and Egypt are two pillars of the Islamic World which have an important role to play in the Ummah as well as in the region, the presidential spokesman said.
Babar said that officials from the two countries signed agreements to promote cooperation in shipping, investment, information technology and science and technology.
The two countries inked a number of MoUs and an Executive Programme for cooperation in scientific cooperation, investment and shipping.
The signed documents include the MoU for Cooperation in the field of Money Orders and International Postal Service, the MoU for Cooperation in the field of Merchant Shipping, a MoU between the Board of Investment and Pakistan and the General Authority of Free Zones and Investment of Egypt.
Presidents Zardari and Morsi also witnessed the inking of a MoU between the Middle East News Agency (MENA) and the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
Another memorandum of understanding was signed between Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) of Pakistan and Special Fund for Development (SFD) of Egypt.
Both the countries also signed the Third Executive Programme for Scientific and Technological Cooperation between Pakistan and Egypt for the year 2013 to 2015.
The two leaders agreed to hold bilateral summit on biennial basis alternatively in Pakistan and Egypt and expressed confidence that the mechanism would not only boost our bilateral relations but would also give two countries an opportunity to co-ordinate its positions on important regional and international developments.
In addition, they also agreed to the holding of the 4th Session of the Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in Islamabad later this year and called for increased people to people contacts which they believed was extremely important in cementing the bonds of friendship between the two countries.
DND
