President Bush (R) meets Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the Oval Office, January 24, 2006.(Reuters photo)

    WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. President George W. Bush held talks with visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday and both leaders hailed relations between their two countries.

    "We have just had a wide-ranging discussion, which one should expect when we've got a strategic relationship like we have with Pakistan," Bush said following his meeting with Aziz.

    "I think the relationship with Pakistan is a vital relationship for the United States, and I want to thank the prime minister and thank the president for working closely with us on a variety of issues," Bush said.

    Bush said that the United States is working closely with Pakistan to defeat terrorists.

    For his part, Aziz said that Pakistan and the United States have "a multifaceted relationship."

    "The United States and Pakistan have a multifaceted relationship covering a host of areas. It goes back in history, and the people of Pakistan value the relationship very much," he said.

    Aziz also hailed the cooperation with the United States on the war against terror. "Our coalition with the United States in fighting terrorism is very important to all of the world and all of civil society," he said.

    Pakistan has been a close U.S. ally on the war against terror, yet bilateral relations were shadowed by the U.S. Jan. 13 air strike in a remote area of northern Pakistan that killed at lease 13 people, including women and children. Enditem