Pak-French info sharing to continue: Barety

ISLAMABAD: French ambassador Marc Barety called on defence secretary lieutenant general (retired) Zameer-ul-Hassan Shah, on Thursday, and discussed matters relating to national and regional security, bilateral defence cooperation and crisis management; an official statement said.

According to detail, Shah expressed satisfaction over the fifth meeting of Pak-France joint security commission held in France in October 2017.

The two sides were of the view that national and regional security is an important and common concern and that both countries can help each other through sharing of experiences and information, particularly in the fields of counter terrorism (CT) and de-radicalisation.

Secretary apprised the ambassador regarding prolonged efforts of Pakistan army in countering terrorism and thanked him for providing assistance to law enforcement agencies (LEAs) of Pakistan.

He also highlighted the rich history of defence cooperation between France and Pakistan.

Both sides agreed that there exists considerable scope of further enhancing mutual collaboration and agreed to focus on the same.

Secretary highlighted the importance of stable and prosperous Afghanistan and reiterated Pakistan’s resolve for facilitating all sorts of peace efforts in Afghanistan.

He apprised the ambassador about the situation along the line of control (LoC) and highlighted excessive border violations by Indian army in 2017.

Shah pointed out that international community needs to take serious notice of the situation. Barety assured that both international community as well as European union (EU) is monitoring the situation along the LoC.