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Pakistan, Libya agree to cement ties

* Zardari, Qaddafi express resolve to adopt practical measures for boosting economic cooperation between two countries

TRIPOLI: President Asif Ali Zardari and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi met on Friday and expressed their resolve to further strengthen bilateral ties and to adopt practical measures for boosting economic cooperation between the two countries.

Zardari, who arrived here late on Thursday at the head of a large delegation, is on a three-day visit to Libya, his first since he became president in September 2008.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Libya, Jamil Ahmad Khan, said the visit is aimed at “improving economic ties between the two countries”. “We hope to restore them to what they were in the 1970s when more than 150,000 Pakistanis held jobs in Libya,” he said.

According to official estimates only 10,000 Pakistani expatriates now work in Libya, while the volume of trade between the two countries stands at around six million dollars annually. The talks late in the night covered a broad spectrum of issues including ways to boost trade and initiate joint ventures and investment, besides covering issues of mutual interest.

President Zardari said there was vast scope for investment between the two countries in several areas including infrastructure development, railways, housing and oil and gas.

President Zardari conveyed to the Libyan leader appreciation by his country’s government and its people for the generous assistance and rehabilitation efforts Tripoli extended to the earthquake victims in Pakistan.

During Zardari’s visit, Pakistan and Libya are expected to sign seven bilateral agreements, including economic, political, security and cultural accords, officials said. agencies

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