Washington: Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday signed a "milestone" MoU committing themselves to sign a deal on a trade transit between the two neighbours by the end of the year, a step that could also boost trade ties between India and Afghanistan.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Afghan counterpart Rangeen Dadfar Spanta signed the Memorandum of Understanding at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the US State Department.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai were present on the occasion along with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The three nations are having their second tri-lateral meeting in Washington to chalk out a common strategy to fight the terrorism.
While details of the MoU were immediately not available, it is understood to be helpful for India too as this could boost Indo-Afghan trade by facilitating transit of goods by land route through Pakistan.