Istanbul to host trilateral summit in Feb

KABUL and Turkey are expected to hold their ninth trilateral summit in February in Istanbul, where a number of issues of common interest will be discussed, a media report said on Friday.

During his last week’s visit to Pakistan, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the summit, which President Hamid Karzai would also attend.

Pakistani newspaper The News reported the three-day meeting would discuss the situation Afghanistan, against the backdrop of an ongoing impasse over the Bilateral Security Agreement between Kabul and Washington.

The three-way engagement, coming months ahead of US/ISAF troops’ pullout from Afghanistan, will start on February 11. Islamabad, Ankara and Kabul are working out the detailed schedule.

As part of the regular consultation mechanism that was established in 2007, President Karzai, his Turkish and Pakistani counterparts met in Istanbul last year. They had agreed on enhanced cooperation, particularly in the security sphere.

PAN Monitor/mud

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