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Summit, Substantial Forward Step in Pak-India Relations: Pakistan
Pakistan said on Thursday that though no agreement had been reached during Agra summit between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, both sides moved forward on bilateral relations and "the journey should continue."
A Foreign Office spokesman said here in a statement that the Indian External Affairs Minister had stated at a press conference on July 17 "we will pick up the threads from the visit of the President of Pakistan." On the same day, he said, Pakistani Foreign Minister had expressed a similar resolve at a press conference.
The Foreign Office spokesman said although the two sides were unable to reach agreement on the full text of a Joint Declaration because of differences on one of its paragraphs, the two leaders reached several understandings which "signified a substantial forward step in the bilateral relations" and "should be preserved and expanded in the interest of peace, security and development."
"We hope the Government of India will join us in the effort to build on the foundation of these understandings," said the spokesman.
He stressed that Musharraf's visit to India was an important milestone on the road to resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute as well as other outstanding issues and established good neighborly relations between the two countries.
"Pakistan-India relations are governed by the United Nations Charter, international law and obligations arising from multilateral and bilateral agreements to which the two countries are parties. Pakistan adheres to all of them." concluded the spokesman.
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