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| April 24, 2007 | Tuesday | Rabi-us-Sani 06, 1428 |
Pakistan, Poland to boost ties
WARSAW, April 23: President Pervez Musharraf and his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski here on Monday said they looked forward to enhancing Pakistan-Poland ties in various fields, including defence production.
Addressing a joint news conference in Warsaw, the two leaders termed their talks “very fruitful” interaction marked by consonance of views on regional and international issues.
The presidents had a one-on-one meeting before holding delegation level discussions.
The two sides discussed investment opportunities, interaction in the field of education and cultural exchanges. They also discussed the prospects for cooperation in defence production.
President Musharraf said Pakistan and Poland, were developing a better and clearer understanding on important regional and global issues.
President Musharraf thanked Poland for helping the Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake.
The Polish President said Poland as a member of Nato and the European Union was also involved in important matters.
“Pakistan and Poland will continue talks on such matters and the visit of President Pervez Musharraf has been satisfactory,” he said hoping that top level contacts between the two countries would continue.
The Polish leader said President Musharraf briefed him on fresh initiatives to resolve conflicts and promote peace in the world.
He said there were significant opportunities for developing relations between Pakistan and Poland in the economic and trade spheres and for cooperation in defence, political and cultural fields.
President Musharraf was assisted at the talks by Federal Ministers Rao Sikandar Iqbal, Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, Lt. Gen (Retd) Javed Asharf Qazi, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Humayun Akhtar and Minister of State Tariq Azeem, Provincial Minister Sindh Saeeda Malik and senators Ammar Ahmad Khan and Razina Alam Khan.
Earlier, Pakistan and Poland signed five agreements and MoUs for cooperation in the defence, small- and medium-scale enterprises, education, science and culture.
The agreements were signed by the defence ministers of the two countries, senior officials and the senior vice-president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce (FPCCI) Pakistan and his Polish counterpart. The two presidents witnessed the ceremony.
President Musharraf also met with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Officials said that there was a complete unanimity of views on various issues, including the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, the sources said.
The two sides stressed the need for exploring new avenues of bilateral cooperation in socio-economic sectors. There would be a regular exchange of delegations at public and private levels to enhance bilateral trade and economic interaction, the sources said.
Praising Pakistan’s role in the fight against terrorism, the Polish prime minister assured that that there was no discrimination against Pakistan and said that his government would encourage private investors to invest in Pakistan in food processing and oil and gas exploration.
Earlier, the president conferred special medals and certificates on Polish citizens who participated in earthquake relief operations in 2005.
Meanwhile, President Musharraf said that Pakistan had adopted a four-pronged strategy based on military, political, administrative and development measures to tackle terrorism and extremism.
In an interview with Polish Television, the president said: “We are pumping a lot of money and the United States is giving us $150 million annually for development projects for these area.”
He said: “We are sealing our borders so that the people do not go across into Afghanistan, but the ultimate battle still remained in Afghanistan, because Taliban are in Afghanistan.”
The president said Pakistan was fully cooperating with coalition forces.
Reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to root out terrorism, the president said: “Which country of the world has done any thing as compared to Pakistan and which country has arrested any leader of Al Qaeda?” He said Al Qaeda leaders were arrested by Pakistan and not by any other country.
“We are doing every thing, and doing it with (a proper) strategy, and people must understand that we have a common enemy,” said the President.President Musharraf said the Taliban culture in some areas was a cause of concern for the government but it was confined to a small population.
Referring to the issue of Lal Masjid, the president said that a small fanatic group was behind it. President Musharraf said in the upcoming elections, extremists would be defeated.—APP
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