ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: Ambassador at large Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Tuesday complimented the Pakistan Foreign Service Academy for maintaining and enhancing friendly relations with the countries whose diplomats had been trained there.

Mr Kasuri said as many as 658 diplomats from 67 countries had been trained at the academy that reflected Pakistan's cordial relations with the developing world. There are indeed genuine feelings of brotherhood and affection between the peoples of our countries with which we need to build our relations and work together for further strengthening of relations bilaterally as well as multilaterally to promote peace and security," he said.

Mr Kasuri greeted the nine diplomat participants of the course and told them 'the training at the academy has enriched your comprehension of various essential disciplines and insight into contemporary international and regional issues'.

He was also happy that the course participants had visited Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar and that they had also been to Muzaffarabad where they would have learnt not only about Azad Jammu Kashmir but also got first-hand knowledge about the Kashmir dispute.

He said he was looking forward to welcoming some of the trainees as diplomats posted to Pakistan 'or even as foreign minister of their countries in future'. Earlier the academy's director-general, Musa Javed Chauhan, gave an overview of the activities of the academy after its establishment in 1981.

The academy has so far trained 518 officers from foreign affairs and other ministries in addition to 658 diplomats from 67 foreign countries. Musa Chauhan spoke of the high standard maintained by the academy in updating developments in the fields of diplomacy and world Affairs.

Hazrat Ali Khan from Bangladesh delivered the vote of thanks on behalf of the trainees. He said the course content gave them a good overview of contemporary global and regional issues as well as the opportunity to look at the cultural, economic, industrial and political scene of Pakistan. "The memory of the days spent at the academy would always remain fresh," Mr Khan remarked.

The diplomats who received certificates at the passing out ceremony were Ms Fatima Lisene (Maldives), Hazrat Ali Khan (Bangladesh), Djimadoon Guingar (Chad), Lin Abdullah (China), Mervan Ali and Ismail Dakh (Libya), Kila Lasana (Mali), Ahmad Udaibi and Adil Mahmood al Shaikh (from Libya).