ISLAMABAD, July 7: Pakistan and the United Kingdom have agreed to regular exchange of Parliamentary delegations to develop more understanding on issues of mutual significance.

They also underlined the need for more concrete steps for information, intelligence and technical know-how sharing among the stakeholders in war against terrorism in the region.

This was agreed during a meeting of an eight-member delegation of British House of Commons’ select committee and Senate’s Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production.

MP James Arbuthnot, the leader of British House of Commons Defence Committee termed the meeting of the two committees as historic and observed that both the countries attached very high priority and importance to cordial relations with each other and have shared values and commonality of views on many regional and global issues.

Replying to various queries from a number of Senators, Mr. James Arbuthnot recognised that Pakistan has played a commendable role in war against terror and more support was required from the world community to enable it to fight the menace.

At the outset, the delegation also offered condolences to the government and the people of Pakistan for those who lost their lives in Islamabad blast and said that it was a serious reminder of the fact that Pakistan is the victim of terrorism.

Members of the visiting delegation also appreciated recent initiatives to engage India in dialogue process and lauded the steps taken to ensure world peace and stability.

Welcoming the British Delegation, the Chairman Senate’s Standing Committee on Defence, Senator Nisar A Memon observed that the two countries were working closely on different bilateral regional and International issues.

He said that regular meetings of the Pak-UK Defence Committee Forum (DCF) between the two governments have been helpful in opening up new avenues in defence cooperation.

He reiterated Pakistan’s firm commitment to democracy and pointed out that a complete transition to a civil democratic culture has been in place after the February Elections this year.

Senator Memon said that the government and the people of Pakistan were fully committed to fighting terrorism and strengthening the economy for the socio-political development of the country.

He reiterated Pakistan’s firm commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and said that an effective command and control system was in place and there is no threat to the nuclear assets.