Pakistan welcomes ARF's decision

Pakistan welcomes ARF's decision

PAKISTAN: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri on
Thursday welcomed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Regional Forum (ARF) senior official's decision to recommend
Pakistan's admission to the forum.

Senior officials from the ARF had on Wednesday recommended in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia that Pakistan be allowed to join the
security-related body at its next ministerial meeting, scheduled
to be held at Jakarta on June 30 to July 2.

"This is yet another success for Pakistan's foreign policy,"
Kasuri told a press conference in Islamabad.

He said the decision came close on the heels of the European
Union's decision to ratify the Third Generation Agreement thereby
raising the level of the country's political and economic
interaction with the EU as well as notification of Pakistan as a
major Non-NATO ally. --DPA