Zardari to visit Kabul today

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is flying to Afghanistan today (Tuesday) for a daylong visit that will include discussions with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on various bilateral issues.Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Pakistan’s Ambassador-designate to Afghanistan Muhammad Sadiq would accompany the president.
Sources said Zardari and Karzai would discuss ways to jointly combat terrorism and are likely to deliberate upon a future direction for bilateral cooperation.The sources said Pakistan is seeking improved trade relations with Afghanistan and is ready to allow duty concessions on the import of over 1,000 items from Afghanistan under the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement.Similarly, the Afghan side is also likely to offer tariffs concessions to Pakistan on various items, they said.
Pakistan’s desire to gain access through Afghanistan for its products to Central Asian Republics is also likely to be discussed, the sources said.