UNITED NATIONS, July 9: Describing the recent incidents of terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan as unfortunate, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said his meeting with his Afghan counterpart Rangeen Dadfar Spanta at the United Nations on Tuesday as being “positive and engaging”.

The two foreign ministers and their delegations met for 45 minutes at the UN Headquarters ahead of the Security Council session on the situation in Afghanistan. Later they had a one-to-one meeting.

Mr Qureshi, who arrived here on Tuesday night on a five-day visit to the United States, will present Pakistan’s views on the Afghan situation at the UN Council meeting.He told journalists he had discussed with Mr Spanta the recent “unfortunate developments” in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Afghan side, he said, had some concerns and he apprised them of Pakistan’s concerns.

In the context of the recent developments, they discussed measures to strengthen cooperation and exchange of intelligence.

Mr Qureshi said the Afghan foreign minister expressed his government’s confidence in Pakistan’s elected government, saying they were sure it would help to strengthen Pak-Afghan relations. Mr Qureshi said Pakistan wanted a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan had a comprehensive strategy to deal with the situation in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Its main elements included economic development of the area, negotiations with the influential people and security measures whenever needed. In this connection, he referred to the ongoing operations in the Khyber Agency.

Earlier, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq told journalists that Mr Qureshi had informed the Afghan minister about finalisation of the Pakistani members of the ‘mini jirga’ which would take place in Islamabad soon. The ‘mini jirga’ will discuss implementation of the decision taken at the big jirga which was held in Kabul last year.

Also, he said, a meeting of the Regional Economic Conference on Afghanistan (RECA) would take place in Islamabad on August 21 and 22.

On Thursday, Mr Qureshi will meet UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and is expected to press for a UN investigation into the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto.

After receiving Pakistan’s request for the UN probe, Mr Ban had told journalists that the request was being studied by United Nations’ legal department whether an investigation entailing UN finances was needed.