Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Thursday said Islamabad will absolutely back up the reconciliatory process in the country led by the Afghan people.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai met the PM Gilani one-on-one after he arrived here in the federal capital, where the guest took the PM Gilani in confidence over negotiations with Taliban back in Afghanistan.

Meantime, Islamabad and Kabul agreed upon joint efforts for the resolution of Afghan crisis.

Assuring the Afghan president of full-fledged cooperation over investigations into Burhanud Din Rabbani’s murder, the PM Gilani said the stable Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s interest.

After the tete-a-tete between Afghan President and PM Gilani, the delegations of the two sides held dialogues attended by Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Federal Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.

The two sides gave thought to the Pak-Afghan ties, regional situation and the measures taken up for the stability in Afghanistan during the negotiations.

Talking to SAMAA TV, Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said Pakistan is quite sanguine about the outcome of the talks, stressing the role of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan is quite critical for the peace in the region.

The FO     spokesman said the participation of all three countries in the reconciliatory process ongoing in Afghanistan is highly imperative, stressing Islamabad wants peace at the earliest in Afghanistan.

Briefing about the tri-nation summit, Abdul Basit said Pak-Iran gas pipeline project is an integral part of the dialogues, adding the project will complete by 2014.

The spokesman continued the details of the project have been decided; only the implementation part remains, adding the three countries will brainstorm the vistas for economic cooperation amidst changing regional perspective.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad will arrive in Pakistan this afternoon. He is slated to meet the PM Gilani one-on-one. The foreign ministers of the three countries will hammer out the agenda of the summit session on Friday morning.

Later on, the three presidents will jointly preside over the summit and a joint communiqué will be issued Friday evening. SAMAA