Islamabad: Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan Friday agreed to develop a
joint framework of trilateral cooperation particularly in the areas of
counter terrorism, anti narcotics and border management within six
months.
It was decided during third Trilateral Summit held
here on Feb, 16 and 17 among Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Iranian
President Mahmood Ahmadinejad and President Asif Ali Zardari
The
three Presidents pledged to enhance cooperation among the countries
comprehensively for realizing the shared aspiration of their peoples for
peace, security, stability and economic prosperity.
They agreed
to extend support of comprehensive cooperation and to take pragmatic
steps for realizing mutually beneficial cooperation to promote
stability, peace and shared prosperity and ensure respect for
sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity, as enshrined
in the UN Charter.
The summit also agreed to proceed on the
basis of mutual interest, shared respect, non interference and non
intervention in internal affairs of each another. The meeting also had a
consensus not to allow any threat emanating from their respective
territories against each other. All parties agreed to commence
trilateral consultations on an agreement in this regard.
The all three heads of states also agreed to take part in the development and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Pakistan
Iran and Afghanistan will broaden cooperation in the political,
security, economic, cultural, social and educational fields and enhance
people to people contacts including exchange visits of parliamentarians,
academicians and journalists.
They also had the same opinion to
strengthen cooperation for eradicating extremism, terrorism and
militancy and to address the root causes of these menaces, condemning
the killings of civilians as well as any kind of assassinations. The
three regional players would cooperate in combating the problems of
narcotic drugs production and trafficking and in combating transnational
organized crimes.
They would also prioritize cooperation for
socio-economic development and enhance three-way trade by facilitation
measures, including preferential tariff and free trade arrangements as
well as barter trade. They also expressed commitment to expand trade in
transit and encourage the private sector to invest in the three
countries.
The summit also consented for enhancing connectivity
by promoting project cooperation in infrastructure, road and rail links,
transport and communications. The three countries would develop
mutually beneficial cooperation in the energy, mining and minerals,
agriculture and other sectors.
They also agreed to cooperate for
the safe, voluntary and early return of Afghan refugees to their
homeland in honour and dignity. The meeting too emphasized the need for
enhancing their cooperation at international level, especially within
the United Nations system.
The trilateral conference also
concurred that mandate would be given to the Foreign Ministers to
prepare and coordinate a roadmap for trilateral cooperation for
submission to the next Summit. Further it would ask the Commerce
Ministers to outline steps for enhancing three-way economic cooperation.
Presidents Iran and Pakistan reiterated their full support for
an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned inclusive process of peace and
reconciliation. They assured the President of the Islamic Republic of
Afghanistan that they would extend full cooperation and stressed that
any initiative in this regard must have authentic Afghan ownership.
They
also stressed the need for implementation of the earlier decisions
taken at the Trilateral Summits held at Tehran in May 2009 and June 2011
respectively. While undction of the war trodden country.
President
Zardari thanked the visiting Presidents for coming to Pakistan to
attend the trilateral summit. He invited the Iranian President to make a
bilateral visit to Pakistan at the earliest.
Earlier the three
Presidents held wide ranging talks on cooperation in diverse fields
focusing on cooperation in counter terrorism and transnational organized
crimes including drug and human trafficking, border management and
trade. Online
