Foreign Minister Qureshi attends SCO Conference on Afghanistan

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Foreign Minister of Pakistan, is in Moscow to attend the SCO’s Special Conference on Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Qureshi in the Conference highlighted the need to assist Afghanistan in meeting the challenges of drug trafficking, terrorism and cross-border crime. He also underlined close cooperative relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which have been initiated by the new democratic government of Pakistan with brotherly Afghanistan.

Besides attending the conference Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi had a series of bilateral meetings on sidelines of the Conference. These included meetings with Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation – Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Tajikistan – Khamrokhon Zarifi, Deputy Foreign Minister of China – Song Tao, UN Secretary General – Ban Ki Moon, and Secretary General OIC, Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.

In the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, two sides agreed to give new impetus to bilateral relations in various fields and work for enhancing regional cooperation. The two foreign ministers also agreed to shortly hold bilateral talks on mutually agreed dates.

Islamabad,
27 March 2009

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