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| August 28, 2005 | Sunday | Rajab 22, 1426 |
Maltese summit to offer opportunity to boost ties
ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri will leave for Malta on Sunday possibly to discuss Pakistan’s participation in the next Commonwealth summit there, after years of its suspension from the 53-nation organization.
Malta will host the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held on November 25-27. A foreign ministry statement said Mr Kasuri will exchange views with his Maltese counterpart on the important meeting.
Pakistan was suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth after Gen Pervez Musharraf seized power in the October 1999 coup, toppling the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s government.
The suspension was lifted in May 2004 after the president agreed to give up as army chief by the end of the year.
But some members of a key Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group made an abortive attempt in February to again suspend Pakistan from the organisation of mainly former British colonies after the president said he would retain the army post until 2007.
The summit, to be preceded by a foreign ministers’ meeting on November 23-24, will be the first of the Commonwealth to be attended by Pakistan since the suspension.
The foreign ministry statement said Mr Kasuri would also hold talks with his Maltese counterpart on ways and means to strengthen bilateral relations and augment economic and cultural relations with the small Mediterranean state that served as a bridge between Europe and North Africa.
“The two foreign ministers are also expected to stress the importance of greater interaction between the two countries and explore possibility of high-level visits,” it said.
“Malta’s membership of the European Union has created new possibilities of cooperation between the two countries,” the statement said.
It said Mr Kasuri was also expected to call on Maltese President Edward Fenech-Adami and meet parliamentary leaders.
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