ISLAMABAD, April 1: Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Saturday decided to enhance bilateral cooperation in defence, security, economic and social sectors. The decision was taken during visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. The meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, agreed to enhance cooperation in all the major sectors with a view to benefiting their peoples.

Mr Aziz said that Pakistan and Sri Lanka were strategic partners in efforts for peace in and prosperity of South Asia and added that their strengthened cooperation would help the region realise its true potential.

According to an official announcement, both the leaders also discussed matters pertaining to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) with the prime minister emphasising the need to make it a more effective, credible and vibrant organisation.

He said Saarc could serve as a platform for regional cooperation and suggested that its secretariat should be strengthened and its meetings should be held more frequently.

Mr Aziz said the free trade agreement signed by Saarc member states needed to be exploited to expand the economic cooperation between them, particularly in shipping and airlines sectors.

He said that Saarc member states should share best practices and benefits from each other’s experiences.

The prime minister said that Pakistan could learn a lot from Sri Lanka in the field of gem cutting and jewellery making. Pakistan also desired to benefit from the experiences of Sri Lanka in increasing the literacy rate.

He said the people of South Asia enjoyed common culture and heritage. They were facing similar challenges of poverty and under-development. There was a need to create an atmosphere of peace to enable every country to use its resources in the social sector, he added.

Pakistan, he said, was working for peace and stability in the region and “it wants an early resolution of Kashmir issue which is critical for durable peace in South Asia”.

The two leaders expressed the resolve to fight terrorism and agreed to extend cooperation to each other in promoting harmony.

“Pakistan is opposed to terrorism and we must purse the fight against terrorism in a relentless manner,” the prime minister said.

The Sri Lankan president extended an invitation to the prime minister to visit Sri Lanka which he accepted.