Pakistan attaches great importance to its ties with Sri Lanka: President

ISLAMABAD, April 21: President Mamnoon Hussain says Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with Sri Lanka, which are cordial and friendly.
Talking to Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament and his delegation of Parliamentarians, Monks, Civil Servants and Academicians, he said that recent high-level exchanges have been very productive and are a testimony of dynamic cooperation between the two countries.
The President said that both the countries need to increase their cooperation in the security and economic fields to further cement the friendly relations.
Meanwhile, President Mamnoon Hussain says the Government is committed to further expand and deepen its relationship with Italy especially in the economic and commercial spheres.
He was talking to the Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, in Islamabad on Thursday.
The President said that Italy is Pakistan’s third largest trading partner in Europe. He said there is immense potential for expanding bilateral trade between the two countries.
President highlighted that Pakistan and Italy have commonality of views on number of regional and global issues, particularly on the issues of terrorism and UN Security Council Reform process.
He lauded the role of Italy in the EU on grant of greater market access to Pakistan. He hoped that Italy will continue to support it in the on-going GSP Plus review process in the EU.
The Italian Foreign Minister laid stress on increasing the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries to fully realise the existing potential in the energy, agriculture, food processing and automotive sectors.-Online