India Issues Statement on Summit with PakistanIndia on Tuesday issued a statement on the summit talks between Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, which ended on Monday night without reaching a joint statement.India was "of course disappointed" that the two sides could not arrive at an agreed text on an account of the "difficulty in reconciling our basic approaches to bilateral relations", said the statement, first read by Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh at an hour-long press conference here on Tuesday morning and distributed shortly afterward. Describing all meetings between the two delegations during the summit talks as "marked by cordiality and candor", the statement said both sides had "seriously pursued" negotiations and held " long hours of discussions" for an agreed text of a document. During the negotiating process, India fully respected all established international norms, it added. The statement vowed that India would "pick up the threads" from the Pakistani President's visit and "unceasingly endeavor to realize" its vision of a relationship of peace, friendship and cooperation with Pakistan. |
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