FM Qureshi to be back today after two-day Turkish visit

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is set to return Islamabad today after completing his two-day visit to Turkey, mainly to attend Istanbul Conference.

Prior to his departure, the foreign minister, in a video message said the purpose of his visit was also to attend the trilateral ministerial meeting of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey.

He said though Turkey was also faced with the COVID situation, Istanbul Conference was yet arranged keeping in view the importance of Afghan peace process.

However, he said the moot could not be held over no-show of Taliban, but Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey kept up their trilateral engagement and discussed Afghan peace, which followed a comprehensive declaration.

During the visit, the foreign minister also held bilateral meetings with Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavusoglu and Afghan counterpart Mohammad Hanif Atmar to discuss the bilateral ties.

The foreign minister thanked Turkey for giving an impetus to Afghan peace process and holding the trilateral meeting besides extending continuously support to Pakistan on the issue of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He viewed that the Turkish support on Kashmir cause was encouraging for both Pakistanis as well as Kashmiri people.

During the meeting with Turkish FM, they also discussed the upcoming summit level meeting of High Level Strategic Cooperation Council also to be attended by Prime Minister Imran Khan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In his meeting with Afghan foreign minister, Qureshi took up the visa issue as well as the release of Pakistani prisoners detained in Afghanistan over petty crimes. The foreign minister thanked his Afghan counterpart over his positive response and assurance for all out cooperation.