Washington, May 22 (IANS): UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Chicago, and held talks on the future of Afghanistan, a UN official said.
During the meeting, "the secretary-general emphasised the importance of regional cooperation and Pakistan's role in that", Xinhua quoted a statement from Ban's spokesman as saying.
Ban "encouraged" Zardari "to help as much as possible with Afghanistan's reconciliation process", the statement said.
Afghanistan was one of the major issues on the agenda of the two-day NATO summit that ended late Monday.
"The secretary-general thanked the president for Pakistan's significant contribution to peacekeeping," the statement added.