PM Aziz meets President of Bangladesh, Discusses Bilateral issues
By ABM Nafeezur Rehman - Pakistan Times Foreign Correspondent

DHAKA (Bangladesh): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz called on President of Bangladesh Aijazuddin here on Thursday and discussed bilateral, regional issues and exchanged views to promote economic and trade relations.

The meeting, which continued for over 40 minutes, was held at President House and members of the Prime Minister delegation were also present on this occasion.

Message of Goodwill

The Prime Minister also conveyed message of goodwill and best wishes of President General Pervez Musharraf to President of Bangladesh.

President Aijazuddin also asked the Prime Minister to convey his good wishes to President Musharraf.

Of Indo-Pak CBMs

Shaukat Aziz briefed the President of Bangladesh about the ongoing process of confidence building measures between Pakistan and India.

He said that Pakistan wanted peace in the region and wanted to resolve all the issues including the issue of Kashmir, through peaceful process of dialogue with India.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan is optimistic that the process of confidence building measures would reach to its logical conclusion to ensure peace, security, development and progress in the region.

Importance of SAARC

Shaukat Aziz highlighting the importance of SAARC in the region said, its next ten years would be very important, because the active participation of member states would make it a vibrant, dynamic and useful forum.

The Prime Minister also explained the economic development of Pakistan and said that both the countries could further promote trade and economic relations taking advantage of each other's experiences.

He also conveyed the feelings of government and the people of Pakistan on the loss of lives in the recent floods in Bangladesh.

Free Trade Agreement

Shaukat Aziz referring to Free Trade Agreement between the two countries, said it will provide a boost to bilateral trade and enhance the two-way flow of trade.

Shaukat Aziz also assured Aijazuddin to increase number of scholarships for students from Bangladesh and promised to provide more educational facilities to
the students in Pakistan's universities.

Explaining expansion and promotion of educational facilities in Pakistan, the Prime Minister said Higher Education Commission has been constituted besides increasing opportunities for Ph.D.

He said new universities are being opened in private sector.

Meeting with Khaleda Zia

Shaukat Aziz also briefed the President about his meeting with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. He said Pakistan has agreed to the proposal of Bangladesh Prime Minister to set up SAARC Poverty Alleviation Fund to fight poverty in the region through mutual cooperation.

President of Bangladesh appreciating the cooperation between the two countries said these cordial relations would be further improved with more interaction between government to government and people to people.

PM returns Home

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz returned home Thursday after a four-day visit to Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh for talks on bilateral relations and promoting regional ties.

Shaukat Aziz, who is the current chairman of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), held wide-ranging talks with their leadership on political, economic and trade issues in the bilateral as well as
regional context.

The Prime Minister in his discussions with leadership of these countries discussed ways and means to increase bilateral relations with particular focus on economic and trade.●