Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. — Photo by AFP

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Friday said Pakistan welcomed India's readiness for a broad ranging engagement and had agreed to finalise the calendar of meetings.

A statement quoting the foreign minister said both sides had also agreed to convene technical working groups prior to the holding of the Pakistan India Joint Commission.

Khar said Pakistan had positively evaluated the talks between Prime Ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Manmohan Singh at Maldives on the sidelines of the Saarc Summit.

She said the talks had contributed to impel a seriousness of purpose to the process of engagement with both sides reaffirming their commitment to the pursuit of peace and discussing all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir in a result-oriented manner.

Foreign Minister Khar said both leaders noted terrorism as a common problem and said that instead of remaining mired in accusations and counter accusations, the real way forward was “cooperation”.

She said the interior and home secretaries of the two countries had been mandated to discuss measures involving counter terrorism and counter narcotics.

The foreign minister said that Mumbai, Samjhota and other terror-related matters needed to be addressed by both sides in the interior and home ministries’ segment.

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