ISTANBUL: The trilateral summit of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey concluded here on Tuesday on a positive note with the three countries signing agreements and memoranda of understanding for cooperation in different areas and expressing willingness to join hands to build a combined partnership to ensure peace and security in the region.
The conference, hosted by Turkish President Abdullah Gul, was attended by President Asif Ali Zardari and President Hamid Karzai along with the military chiefs and foreign and interior ministers.
Pakistan and Turkey signed an agreement for currency swap allowing businessmen and trading community to do trade in local currencies.
It was signed by governors of State Bank of Pakistan and Central Bank of Turkey.
Interior Ministers of the three countries signed an MoU on training cooperation while army chiefs signed protocol for conduct of mutual exercises and training courses.
The presidents told a news conference that Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to evolve a cooperation mechanism for investigations into assassination of former Afghan president Prof Burhanuddin Rabbani.
The leaders discussed possibility of forming a commission at foreign ministers’ level to identify problems confronting the region, preparing a programme for their resolution and ensuring follow-up.
President Zardari said Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey had agreed to reenergise their efforts in support of peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.
He said: “Eventually the world community has realised that there has to be a regional solution of the issue and the region has to take the responsibility.”
He said: “Distant friends, however, well-intentioned they might be, will not know our culture and traditions”, adding “Turkey is better placed to guide us.”
He said Pakistan attached great importance to the process of Afghanistan-Pakistan-Turkey trilateral summit.
He praised President Gul’s valuable contribution and constructive role in the promotion of peace and stability in Afghanistan.
He said the three presidents had had very open and productive discussions.
The President said: “Along with Afghanistan, Pakistan has also suffered immensely on account of terrorism. We, therefore, remain firm in our resolve to eliminate this menace.“We have also agreed to strengthen regional economic cooperation through this important trilateral process.”
The President expressed sympathy and solidarity with the government and people of Turkey on the recent earthquake and said that Pakistan offered assistance to Turkey but President Gul said they were fully prepared to handle this crisis.Replying to a question, the president said since democratic government came into power it had covered miles in improving relations with Afghanistan.
“One of the most important conclusions of this summit is the decision made by Pakistan and Afghanistan to establish a cooperation mechanism to illuminate the assassination of ex-Afghan President Rabbani,” President Gul said.
“This cooperation will help improve mutual trust between the two countries,” said Gul, adding intelligence services of both countries had “open and honest” discussions on this cooperation, without elaborating further on the modalities of the mechanism.
“We were hurt badly by the assassination of Rabbani,” said President Karzai. “I hope this cooperation will produce results.”
President Karzai again ruled out peace talks with the Taliban until he knew how to contact the insurgent group, and until then Afghanistan would talk only to Pakistan.
“We cannot keep talking to suicide bombers, therefore, we have stopped talking about talking to the Taliban until we have an address for the Taliban ... until that day we have said we will be talking to our brothers in Pakistan to find a solution to the problem that we have,” he said.
“We have been hurt badly, our desire for peace has been either misunderstood or misused and we have learnt a lesson from the manner in which we pursued the peace process,” Mr Karzai said.—Agencies
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