Sweden lauds Pakistan’s role in war against terrorism

STOCKHOLM Sweden has appreciated Pakistan’s role in the war against global terrorism and expressed its satisfaction over the commencement of a dialogue process with India.

The message was conveyed by Swedish officials during Foreign Secretary Riaz H. Khokhar’s meetings with his Swedish counterpart Hans Dahlgren and other officials, in Stockholm.

Mr Khokhar’s meeting with Mr Dahlgren covered subjects relating to a review of bilateral relations, Pakistan and European Union (EU) cooperation, regional issues and international developments.

Mr Khokhar briefed Swedish State Secretary Dahlgren on the domestic situation in Pakistan and its improved economic performance. On regional matters, he briefed Mr Dahlgren on Pakistan-India relations with reference to the composite dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and on Pakistan’s role in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan.

There was an exchange of views on the Iraq situation. Mr Khokhar spoke about Pakistan’s role in the fight against international terrorism and explained Pakistan’s non-proliferation policy. On Pakistan-EU relations, Pakistan’s foreign secretary underlined the need for enhanced cooperation, following the ratification of the Pakistan-EU cooperation agreement.

The foreign secretary called on the Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds. Mr Khokhar conveyed Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri’s greetings to her. An invitation on behalf of Mr Kasuri was also extended to Ms Freivalds to visit Pakistan, which she accepted.

Pakistan’s foreign secretary met separately with the State Secretary for Trade and Industry Sven-Eric Soder. The discussions focused on matters relating to Pakistan-Sweden bilateral trade and measures to increase the scope of bilateral economic relations. Both sides expressed satisfaction that trade and business interaction between the two countries was picking up. They underlined the importance of enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries. They noticed Pakistan’s impressive economic turnaround. Mr khokhar welcomed the planned visit of a Swedish trade delegation to Pakistan later this year.

They agreed that prospects for increasing bilateral trade and investments had improved and efforts needed to be made to encourage greater business-to-business contacts and overall economic collaboration.

Relations between Pakistan and Sweden were characterised by friendship and cooperation. Both sides agreed to exchange views on issues of mutual interest on a regular basis. The two sides also agreed to develop closer relations and take further steps to expand and strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields.

During his stay in Stockholm, the foreign secretary gave interviews to Swedish Television and Radio. He met the correspondent of Swedish news agency ‘Tidningarnas Telegrambyra’ (TT) app

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