September 7, 2003	Sunday	Rajab 9, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: Canada on Saturday extended full support for Pakistan’s endeavour to revive dialogue with India and to usher in an era of peace and tranquillity in South Asia.

Visiting Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham during official talks with his Pakistan counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri expressed deep appreciation for Pakistan’s role in the war against terrorism, a foreign ministry statement said.

The two ministers held “productive and fruitful” talks to promote cooperation on bilateral as well as regional issues of concern to their countries.

Mr Graham also called on President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.

“Wide-ranging talks, which were held in a very cordial atmosphere, were productive and fruitful,” the statement said following the meeting between the two foreign ministers.

It said the two sides took up the “range of cordial bilateral relations that exist between the two countries” and which they hoped would be strengthened in the future.

They focused particularly on ways and means to enhance commercial relations and cooperation in the development sector.

The statement quoted Mr Graham as assuring Islamabad that Canada was deeply interested in Pakistan’s development and well-being.

The talks also focused on important developments in the region, including Pakistan-India relations, the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Middle East peace process.

“On Pakistan-India relations, the need for an early resumption of the bilateral dialogue process aimed at resolving all outstanding issues, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir, was underlined,” it said.

Mr Graham expressed deep appreciation for Pakistan’s role in the war against terrorism, and Mr Kasuri expressed his gratitude for Canada’s support for social sector development in Pakistan.

It said both sides expressed full cooperation and support for President Hamid Karzai’s government in Afghanistan.

The statement reiterated the two countries’ commitment to support to the Bonn process — formation of Mr Karzai’s government by an Afghan conference in Bonn after the fall of

the Taliban regime in 2001 — and to Afghanistan’s reconstruction and rehabilitation of its people.