March 7, 2003	Friday	Muharram 3, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 6: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said that Pakistan was keen to strengthen bilateral ties with Afghanistan and was doing its utmost in this regard.

“We are trying our best to further consolidate friendly relations between the two countries,” said Mr Kasuri on Wednesday in a written response to a question posed by Abdul Qayyum Khan Jatoi in the National Assembly.

“In the present context, we support the transitional government of Afghanistan and have assured them of our readiness to cooperate in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan,” said the foreign minister.

Recounting that Pakistan had pledged $100 million as aid to Afghanistan, he said: “The assistance given by us will be need- based and will be disbursed in areas to be prioritized by the Afghans themselves.”

Mr Kasuri said, to foster closer understanding and mutual collaboration” there have been a number of high-level exchanges between the two countries during the past year, which included Mr Karzai’s official visit to Pakistan in January 2002 which was reciprocated by President Musharraf’s in April 2002.

He said that 11 Afghan ministerial visits had taken place at Pakistan government’s invitation last year.

“During the visit of the Afghan telecommunication minister two MoUs were signed for cooperation in the fields of postal services and telecommunications,” he said.

Mr Kasuri also referred to his own visit to Kabul in December 2002 to sign the Kabul Declaration on “Good Neighbourly Relations” between Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries.

“Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali met President Karzai in Ashkabat in December 2002 and signed the tripartite agreement for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline,” he said.

The foreign minister also mentioned the exchange of trade delegations between since August 2002.