President Asif Ali Zardari and Amir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani met here today on the sidelines of Islamic Solidarity Summit being held in the Holy City of Makkah to cope with the challenges facing the Ummah and further strengthen unity and Solidarity of Muslim Ummah, says a press release received from Makkah here today.

Pak- Qatar bilateral relations, mutual cooperation, situation in the Middle East and regional issues came under discussion during the meeting.

The meeting was attended among others by Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Foreign Minister Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Senator Sehar Kamran and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Muhammad Naeem Khan.

During meeting, the President emphasized on keeping up the momentum of the mutual cooperation in the fields of energy, hydel power generation, agriculture, infra-structure and aviation including exchange of high level delegations to harness the full potential existing between the two brotherly countries.

The President appreciated the progress made with regards to import of LNG after the signing of the MoU recently.

The President while noting the important role being played by around 90,000 Pakistani diaspora in socio-economic development of Qatar said that their presence was a reflection of our strong bonds and our keen desire to further contribute towards the development of Qatar by meeting its manpower requirement.

The President also called for increased absorption of Pakistani skilled Manpower in various fields and professions to the mutual benefit of the two countries.

The President appreciated the support and assistance of the Qatar Government to Pakistan at every hour of need.

The Qatari Amir expressed satisfaction on the current level of bilateral cooperation and said that Qatar desires strategic partnership with Pakistan. He also expressed willingness to help Pakistan overcome its energy crisis.

Amir of Qatar assured the President of the continued support and assistance of Qatar to the Government and people of Pakistan in every hour of need and natural calamities.