ISLAMABAD, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) — Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani agreed on Wednesday to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York later this month, the foreign ministry here said.Asif spoke to the Afghan foreign minister over the telephone and conveyed that “Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with Afghanistan and is prepared to work with Afghanistan in all fields including political, economic, trade and transit, security, and other fields for the progress and prosperity of the two countries,” according to a foreign ministry statement.He also underlined Pakistan’s support for Afghan owned and Afghan led peace process to bring lasting peace and stability to Afghanistan, the statement said.”The two foreign ministers agreed to remain engaged for building closer cooperation between the two countries. They also agreed to meet on the sidelines of UNGA in New York later this month,” the statement said.The development came days after Asif welcomed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s statement that his country is ready for comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan. Ghani said that peace with Pakistan is on his country’s national agenda.Asif had hailed the Afghan president’s remarks in his response and said Pakistan is willing to hold talks with Afghanistan in line with a bilateral mechanism.He also said Pakistan and Afghanistan have bilateral, trilateral, quadrilateral and multilateral mechanisms for dialogue and interaction and that those mechanisms should be utilized to their full potential.
