ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has emphasised the need of joint monitoring on Pak-Afghan border and increased sharing of information on the cross-border movement of militants between Pakistan and NATO-ISAF.
The Prime Minister was talking to Secretary General NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen who called on him at the Prime MinisterÂ’s Secretariat on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister welcomed the proposal for signing a Framework Agreement between Pakistan and NATO through Joint Political Declaration and hoped that both sides would exchange drafts of the proposed declaration in the near future to finalise it for signing as soon as possible. The Prime Minister also appreciated NATOÂ’s training facilities for PakistanÂ’s military and civilian personnel and hoped that this cooperation would be further expanded to strengthen his countryÂ’s counterterrorism and counterinsurgency capabilities.
The Prime Minister thanked the NATOÂ’s Secretary General for his intersession with the European Union leadership on PakistanÂ’s behalf for granting the GSP Plus facility and greater access to Pakistani products in the European markets. PakistanÂ’s economic development and progress, he added, is a prerequisite for successfully confronting the threat of terrorism and its allies must help it in this regard through greater market access.
The Prime Minister drew the attention of the Secretary General to the need of refurbishment of the road infrastructure for facilitating smooth supplies to ISAF through Pakistan and sought NATOÂ’s assistance in improving the related road network in the country.
The Prime Minister stated that despite immense human and material losses, Pakistan had demonstrated its commitment to combat terrorism, extremism and militancy. The sacrifices made by the people of Pakistan and its Armed Forces remain unparalleled but his Government had been able to retain the domestic consensus and peopleÂ’s ownership of struggle against terrorism. The Government of Pakistan attaches high priority to provide relief and rehabilitation to the returnees to the affected areas and reconstruction of the areas cleared from the militants. The international community should assist Pakistan in these efforts, he added.
Dilating on the role of NATO and ISAF in Afghanistan, the Prime Minister stressed that the international community must stay engaged and facilitate efforts of the Afghan Government to rebuild its state institutions and related capacity. He reiterated PakistanÂ’s offer for the training of the Afghan National Army, National Police and civil bureaucracy.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen commended the Prime Minister, his Government and Pakistani Armed Forces for resolutely pursuing the campaign against terrorism. He expressed his satisfaction over the ongoing cooperation between Pakistan and NATO and vowed to expedite finalisation of Joint Political Declaration between the two sides. The Secretary General said that NATO would like to have a long-term and robust cooperation going beyond resolution of Afghanistan crisis.
He stated that NATO, besides capacity building of PakistanÂ’s military and civil officers in anti-terrorism fields, was willing to provide training to concerned Pakistani agencies personnel in anti-narcotics drive.
He termed the Kabul Conference, held on Tuesday last, as very successful and stated that the participating countries had agreed to President KarzaiÂ’s idea that the Afghan forces should be enabled to take over the law enforcement duties from the NATO and ISAF by the end of 2014. The NATO would accord every possible assistance to Afghan government to achieve that goal.