Pak-Afghan border violations top Gilani's agenda during US visit from July 28
19 Jul 2008, 1147 Hrs

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Islamabad, July 19 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is expected to raise the issues of border (with Afghanistan) violations and the build-up of NATO forces along the Pak-Afghan border with the US officials during his forthcoming visit to Washington

Gilani will be visiting US from July 28 on the special invitation of US President George W. Bush. Besides meeting President Bush, he would also meet other US high officials.

The country's Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said that cordial Pak-US relations were in the mutual interest of both countries, and Gilani's forthcoming visit would strengthen these ties, reported the Daily Times.

Gilani's visit would also help to remove certain misunderstandings between the two countries, the FO spokesman said and added that the economic, defence and technical relations between the two countries would also gain further momentum.

The prevailing economic conditions in the country under the impact of a global rise in the prices of energy and food are of course a matter of worry for the current government, he said, adding that this would come under discussion during the visit.

Overall, the general trend of the countries' relations is positive and co-operation is increasing in all sectors, Sadiq said.

He said there was a 2500-km-long porous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and it was almost impossible to ensure a 100 percent check on cross-border movement of undesired elements. (ANI)