The third Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process was held on Friday in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev inaugurated the conference which was co-chaired by Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs Zalmai Rassoul.
Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani led the Pakistani delegation.
Speaking on the occasion, Jilani conveyed his appreciation and thanked the government of Kazakhstan for hosting the ministerial conference. Moreover, he underlined that several developments had taken place since the last ministerial in Kabul in June 2012.
The foreign secretary said that six clusters of CBMs that had been identified were now ready for implementation.
He said that Pakistan attached great importance to the Heart of Asia initiative. He reported to the conference about the draft implementation plan of the Disaster Management CBM, prepared jointly with Kazakhstan. The CBM was later adopted by the ministerial conference along with other CBMs.
The foreign secretary said Pakistan had continuously endeavored to raise the profile of its relations with Afghanistan at both bilateral and multilateral forums.
“A peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan is in our vital national interest,” he maintained.
He said that Pakistan was committed to provide its full cooperation to Afghanistan to help it steer through the transition period and beyond.
