ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri called on President Chandrika Bandranaike Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka in Colombo on Monday and delivered to her an invitation from Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit here.

Conveying greetings of the president and the prime minister to the Sri Lankan president, the foreign minister said Pakistan considered Sri Lanka a partner in promoting regional peace, prosperity and economic development.

He said Pakistan desired cordial relations with all its neighbours on the basis of sovereign equality.

He said Saarc could not achieve its potential due to the tension in the region over the non-resolution of the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

The key to achieving regional peace and security and pursuing economic relations was to find a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the United Nations resolutions, he said.

He said the regional countries should persuade India to come to the negotiating table to peacefully resolve its differences with Pakistan.—APP