Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Wednesday the tripartite meeting of Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan underlined the importance of cooperation between the political, military and intelligence organizations on regional security issues.

President Gul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari held a joint news conference following the tripartite summit on Wednesday in Ankara.

I am pleased to welcome Mr. Zardari, Mr. Karzai and their respective delegations to Ankara, Gul said.

The heart of the Turkish people is always on the side of the peoples of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gul said.

It is our duty to carry the friendly and brotherly ties between our three countries to future generations, Gul stressed.

"The third meeting of our tripartite summit, which actually began in 2007, was held on Wednesday. We held comprehensive, beneficial and sincere talks on regional and international issues pertaining to the three countries," Gul said.

We discussed the possibilities for a strong cooperation for regional peace, stability and security, Gul said.

We believe that we have an obligation to care about the region in which we live in, Gul said.

The regional countries are the ones who are most informed about the problems of this region, Gul said.

The regional countries must prepare themselves in the best way possible so that outsiders who want to contribute to the solution of problems can do so effectively, Gul said.

In the summit held in 2008, decisions were taken to facilitate cooperation in various fields, Gul noted.

Participation of military and intelligence officals

The most important segment of today's summit was the meeting between the highest level military and intelligence officials of the three countries, Gul said.

The participation of high level military, police and intelligence officials in Wednesday's summit made it a very crucial one, Gul said.

"A decision was taken at the second tripartite summit to establish an Economic Development Institute at the TOBB (Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey) University. The institute will be inaugurated by a ceremony to be attended by the foreign ministers of the three countries. We are in the process of establishing cooperation between the parliaments and media groups of our respective three countries. The developments taking place since December will be conveyed to the leaders of the three countries by a joint working group," Gul said.

Importance of timing of summit

We had met with Mr. Zardari and Mr. Karzai on March 10, 2009 during a summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in Tehran, Iran, Gul said.

"NATO will hold a summit on April 3-4 and the U.S. President Barack Obama will pay a visit to Turkey. The countries of the region know best their own problems. The ideas of the regional countries are important to solve the problems of the region," Gul said.

"During the meetings today, we had a chance to learn about the opinions of my brothers Zardari and Karzai. I will have an opportunity to convey the opinions of my brothers to the participants of the NATO summit and to President Barack Obama. This is why we conducted our summit on Wednesday," Gul said.

"It is pleasing to see the new approach the international community has taken on Afghanistan and Pakistan. The recent meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Moscow, the Special Conference on Afghanistan and a recent conference held in the Hague under the auspices of the United Nations all were held to help Afghanistan overcome economic problems and provide stability," Gul said.

"Turkey did attend these meetings and the meetings were of vital importance," Gul said.

"The meeting on Wednesday was sincere and beneficial. We believe that today's meeting would contribute to regional tranquility and peace," Gul also said.

AA