Pakistan, France share a history of bilateral ties: Senator Qayyum

Pakistan places its bilateral relationship with France in high esteem and desires to further expand cooperation in different fields for mutual benefit of the people of two sides. Senator Lieutenant General Abdul Qayyum (retd), Convener Pakistan-French Parliamentary Friendship Group, said this on Tuesday in a meeting with a newly deputed French Ambassador Marc Barety.
Qayyum said Pakistan and France shared a history of bilateral cooperation and both the countries shared a vision to promote regional and global peace. "Pakistan wants peace in the region and believes in peaceful and dialogue-oriented solution to all the issues including Kashmir," he said.
The senator apprised the envoy of the overall dynamics of Asia and more specifically the South Asian region. He also underscored the need for enhanced parliamentary exchanges to bring people of the two sides closer and boost mutual linkages in various sectors. He called for making the parliamentary friendship groups more vibrant so that both the countries could benefit from the expertise of parliamentarians and give parliamentary diplomacy a chance to take the bilateral relations to new altitudes.
While welcoming the new French Ambassador, Senator Lieutenant General Abdul Qayyum (retd) assured to extend full cooperation and assistance to promote and strengthen Pakistan-France bilateral friendship ties specially focusing on trade, economic cooperation, culture, health, education, counter-terrorism and defence cooperation sectors. Marc Barety agreed to the views of Senator Abdul Qayyum and expressed his gratitude for endeavours to promote Pakistan-France bilateral ties. He also reiterated French government's offer to invite Pakistan's Senate parliamentary delegation to visit France in near future.
The envoy acknowledged Pakistan's efforts in war against terror. He said that Kashmir was a longstanding issue between Pakistan and India and it needed to be resolved peacefully through dialogue and negotiations whereas France strongly supports Afghan-owned and Afghan-led solution to Afghanistan fiasco. The senator conveyed that Pakistan was looking forward to receive French parliamentary delegation headed by Senator Pascal Allizard next month. He added that such visits would go a long way to promote bilateral ties.