President leaves for London to attend trilateral summit

President Asif Ali Zardari Friday left for London on Friday to attend a trilateral summit, to be hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron, and will be attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, official said.

The summit will discuss cooperation of the three countries for peace and security in the war-torn Afghanistan, they said.

“The meeting will provide an opportunity for the Pakistani and Afghan presidents to review their joint efforts to encourage the Taliban militants to enter the much-needed reconciliation process,” a Pakistani official said on condition of anonymity.

It is the third Pak-Afghan-UK summit in seven months.

The first trilateral summit was held in Kabul in August when Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf visited the Afghan capital. The second was held in the United Nations on the sidelines of UN annual general assembly’s session.

Officials describe the summit as significant as the Afghan endgame fast approaches and the world community is in the process to double their efforts for a political solution to the crisis before the NATO withdrawal in 2014.

Sources said the Pak-Afghan leaders are likely to discuss the proposed Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA).

Pakistan has already handed over a draft to the Afghan government and President Karzai is expected to come with his initial response, the sources said.

The two leaders are likely to hold a bilateral meeting that will mainly focus on Islamabad’s role in the peace process.

Pakistan released 26 Afghan Taliban prisoners over the past two months on the request by the Afghan authorities to push the peace process forward. Pakistani officials say they will free more Taliban leaders in the coming weeks.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Feb 1 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.