Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani arrives in Pakistan, to focus on strengthening bilateral ties

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Pakistan on Thursday on a two-day official visit to the country on the invitation of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The Afghan President is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising key ministers and senior officials, reports Geo News.

President Ghani will hold talks with Khan and his Pakistani counterpart Arif Alvi during his visit.

The talks between the two sides will focus on strengthening bilateral cooperation in diverse areas including political, trade, economic, security, peace and reconciliation, education as well as people-to-people exchanges.

Ghani on Friday will travel to Lahore where he will participate in a business forum attended by business representatives from both countries.

In Lahore, he will also offer prayers at the Mughal-era Badshahi Mosque.

This is Ghani's third visit to Pakistan and follows the recently held first review session of the landmark Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS).

President Ghani had earlier undertaken a bilateral visit to Pakistan in November 2014 and subsequently came to attend the Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process (HoA) Ministerial Conference in Islamabad in December 2015.

Ghani's visit comes ahead of the seventh round of peace talks between US and Taliban negotiators slated to be held on Saturday. The venue is currently not known.