PM, Afghan President stress bilateral cooperation in trade, security for regional peace

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan and Afghanistan's President held one-on-one meeting here at the PM House on Thursday, focusing on cementing bilateral relations in diverse areas particularly trade, security and people-to-people contacts.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Ashraf Ghani emphasized on the commonalities of religion, culture and history that existed between the two neighbouring countries.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan was always supportive of an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led solution to the conflict.

Both sides called the need for strong cooperation to ensure region's peace and security.

Later, the two leaders led their sides at the delegations-level talks, which encompassed wide-ranging areas including political, trade, economic, security, peace and reconciliation, education and people-to-people exchanges.

Pakistan's delegation included Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Special Assistant to PM on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed,  Adviser to PM on Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh,  MNA Murad Saeed and Foreign Secretary Sohail Mehmood.

Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Ashraf Ghani had met on May 31 on the sidelines of summit of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.