ISLAMABAD, 21 December 2004 — Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday to discuss issues including next month’s elections in Iraq, officials said.
Zebari, the first foreign minister of the interim Iraqi government to visit Pakistan, arrived here on Sunday on a three-day trip. “They exchanged views on the security situation and reconstruction work going on in Iraq,” state television reported following the meeting.
The Iraqi foreign minister also held formal talks with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri on “bilateral relations and important matters of mutual interests,” officials said.
Pakistan hopes elections in Iraq will lead to a broad-based government there including all political and religious groups, Kasuri told his Iraqi counterpart.
Kasuri expressed “deep concern” about the security situation in Iraq, a Pakistani statement said.
Kasuri said Pakistan backed steps by the United Nations to hold elections in Iraq on schedule and wanted to see “a democratically elected, pluralistic and broad-based government which was inclusive of all political and religious groups”.
Zebari will meet Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz today, a Foreign Office official told AFP. “Iraq is passing through a difficult time and the government of Pakistan wishes peace and stability there,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said after Zebari’s arrival.
“Pakistan continues to watch the situation in Iraq with great interest and hopes this visit would further strengthen the ties between the two brotherly countries for their mutual benefit,” the spokesman said.
During a visit to Britain early this month Musharraf urged US-led multinational forces to hasten their departure from Iraq by training local troops more quickly.
Pakistan opposed the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, and refused to send troops for peacekeeping missions in the war-torn country. Musharraf however said Pakistan would consider helping train Iraqi soldiers.
