ISLAMABAD, June 22: Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, during a meeting with President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday, expressed his country's support for Pakistan's close interaction with the Association of South East Asian Nations.

The two leaders, who held talks at the Aiwan-i-Sadr, agreed on enhancing bilateral interaction to bolster trade and economic cooperation. They also held a one-to-one meeting and exchanged views on bilateral, regional and international issues of common interest.

Mr Goh informed the president that Singapore would support Pakistan's efforts to integrate closely with the Asean processes. The Singapore leader stated that as the interaction proceeded, he envisaged that Pakistan would enjoy summit level dialogue status with the association in the coming years.

The president thanked the visiting leader for Singapore's expression of support in this regard and said Pakistan wanted to enhance its economic and trade ties with the Asean countries.

He said Pakistan looked forward to becoming a full dialogue partner of the association. The Singapore leader also expressed his support for efforts to have closer relations between the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and Asean.

The president welcomed the offer of the visiting leader to start negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement. The Singapore leader said the agreement would cover investment and trade. The leaders agreed on the need to hold regular consultations between the two countries' foreign ministries, which would also cover economic, trade and information technology issues. -APP