Sartaj Aziz and Salman Khurshid. PHOTO: RADIO PAKISTAN
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz met with Indian Minister for External Affairs, Salman Khurshid on Tuesday to discuss avenues of mutual cooperation, including bilateral trade, said a statement by Pakistan's foreign ministry.
The first high-level bilateral meeting since the new government assumed office in Pakistan sought to identify ways of building better relations between the two neighbouring countries.
Khurshid brought with him warm tidings from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and reiterated Indian government's desire to engage with Pakistan on all issues.
Aziz said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had asked him to treat improved relations with India as a matter of high priority and to resume the process left incomplete in 1999 when Sharif's government was ousted by a military coup.
Trade and economic cooperation were amongst the matters discussed by the two dignitaries, who maintained that the Pakistan-India Joint Business Council, that just concluded a session in Islamabad, would serve as an important mechanism to take things forward.
Referring to the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting in Brunei where the two were invited, both leaders said that regional cooperation would give an impetus to the economic development and prosperity of South and South-East Asia.
The meeting ended on assurances of further coordinating in the next few months.
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Pakistan's and India's ties,relations,co-operations and friendships are only based on the solution of Kashmir issue because Kashmir is the only bone of contention between Pakistan and India and hindrance in the good relations.....
@Manoj Joshi India: Can not agree with you more. Trade between the two nations would be a first step towards good relations; and then, not allowing the tit for tat policies run by the armed forces, cross border interferences on both sides... rather cooperation to banish terrorism through regional collaborations whether in Balochistan or Kashmir would be the ideal situation. Will they ever see sense I wonder.....
@Rehan, All the brilliant Muslims stayed back in India. The rest went to Pakistan.
@Rehan: You still can’t manage your stately affairs without the Muslim brain, because we belong to the ruling class. Boy 'Pakistan Studies' is toxic..... I should read it once to see how can such a curriculum be built.... Can anyone suggest a way of getting it into India.. It seems to be the primary reason in Pakistani psyche of what is called 'Cognitive Errors' in psychological terminology....
foolish talk about Kashmir in our business deals
Seriously,the whole Kashmir issue is becoming more of an issue of IZZAT then anything else. It's evident that neither Pakistan is a pious Muslim state,nor India a perfect democracy.But, both countries are being hijacked with this single issue while they have numerous other problems to solve.In fact South Asia is world's one of the poorest region and economically least integrated.The whole rhetoric of war, rivalry, strategic interest, religious bigotry etc has not produced anything valuable,productive for common people,neither did it solve any problem for which they were intended..Small,small countries of southeast asia, Korea and eastern Europe concentrated on their economy away from war and now they are in good shape.Their kids are getting better education,better employment,longer life,better experiences, safer environment,better roads (so that they will not die in accidents).But, what have we got,a distorted version of history in which heroes are glorified to the extent the look fake,a society where people die for just being what they are.The whole discourse must change.Any interaction must bring material benefits which can be measured in mathematical terms so that common people are actually benefited and not emotional benefits like izzat,glory,proud, which can be produced any way through brainwashing and propaganda.
@Alter Ego: Haha.......your forefathers dreamt the same and we all know which nation lost half of it's country.
@Singh
That's exactly my point. You still can't manage your stately affairs without the Muslim brain, because we belong to the ruling class. That's why you still need Muslim presidents, vice presidents, chief justice, army general, chief election commissioner, and chief of intelligence bureau. And just today I watched on TV, that the next governor of Delhi will be a Muslim. That means we will rule Delhi again. So why didn't you like to remain under the Mughals and connived with the British to take our property?
@rehan such ignorance can be mastered by ppl of pure land only,wat is wrong if india uses muslim talent...for god sake stop thinking every muslim is pakistan,they r as indian s any othr indian..we dont say he is our muslim fm,but we say he is our fm...i think the real issue with u is u can't see muslim more prosperous in our country rather than the land of pure.....
@ alter ego heights of ignorance again...ur country is on verge of economic collapse..u people bows in front of usa an china for monetary help...balochistan is burning...ur own ppl killing ur own citizen..not a single day without bomb blast...gang war in karachi is at peak...target killing at it worse...but still u r talking abt india..
REMAIN IGNORANT REMAIN STUPID
@Rehan: You Muslim Ego is pathetic....sad......and the Great Mughal Empire died in a dingy room in Burma.
@B Starving millions? Were you talking about your own country where more people live below the poverty line than the entire population of Pakistan? Or where almost 600 million openly defecate in public places? Go first put your own house in order before lecturing others.
@Adnan: as if u have less poor. do you get electricity in your house. i get it 24 hours.
@Rehan: SK is second Muslim FM of India. Here is list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MinisterofExternalAffairs(India). Ignorance have no limit. ET you are censoring my 98% comment. Singh
@Adnan: The only way there can ever be peace and prosperity in South Asia is if Pakistan stops brutalizing the Balochistan people and gives them the democratic right to determine their own future.
It’s about time Pakistan stopped wasting its money on a futile military occupation and turned its attention to feeding its starving millions instead!
Looking at the picture I was wondering that after so many years after independence Indian hindus still can't produce a hindu foreighn minister! They are still dependent on Muslim talent after about 300 years of the demise of Mughal rule.
@Adnan:
You mention Kashmir: what about the others? Nagaland makes the 'Baluchistan insurgency' look like a picnic! It will be a miracle if India survives in one piece, beyond 2020.
@Rex Minor
It's nice to see another side of @Rex Minor, relaxed and witty. Would love to see more of it in future.
best thing for more than one billion peoples is to undo partition of india pakistan and india should reunit and create hindustan but not akhand bharat there is difference in hindustan and akhand bharat former suggest multi religious culture and latter represent idea of a particular party of india
It seems that for the Indian side, the Pakistani Government has finally ''settled down".
@Adnan:
As usual, the Indians are in a state of denial! 80,000 Kashmiris killed, 750,000 Indian troops occupying Kashmir. Problem? What problem?
@Rex Minor: India can export refined petroleum products, generic pharmaceuticals, 2 wheelers an in turn would benefit from cement, dry fruit and yes even mangoes which are much cheaper in Pakistan than India.
@Rex Minor: Let them depend on India on trade and see how we can achieve our objectives....
@Maverick: But you peoples are not in dreams but in real, under fire from your own monsters daily
No more relation with pakistan until unless border issue is concern. better to improve relation with china.
@Indian:
good proposal,
what do the two countries have for trade? Mangoes in exchange for mangoes? At least they are better than the exchange of rebukes.
Rex Minor
Till such time the leaders short out all tedious issue, here is the list of things which can be implemented much faster;
Ban the Wagah border nonsense. let there be a massive Stadium be built at Wagah border in No-Man's land where each evening we can have joint cultural programs and people from both side can attend without visa. Allow religious tourism without any quota and round the year. Allow senior citizens and children below the age of 10 years to travel without VISA. celebrate the lives of common freedom fighters' jointly.Please note that we love Iqbal Banus, Noor jahans, Mehdi Hasans, Ahmed farazs probably much than you Pakistanis. They our joint heritage. What we hate most is the Jihadi Islam and we will fight to any length to douse this monster. We love Lucknow nababi culture, Urdu shayri and many things which are of Islamic origin. However, we are proud of our diversity and will protect it at any cost. We love our Pakistani blood brothers but hate two nation theory.
@Adnan: Do the same for Pakistan's starving and terrorized millions in Balochistan, KPK (esp Peshawar), Karachi, Gilgit-Baltistan.... and pretty much everywhere else, then give India and "Indians" lectures on how it should treat its citizens (that includes Kashmiris) ... at the very least do something to stop the killings of people BY THE DOZEN!! This sort of a thing does not happen anywhere else in the world -- not even Iraq, not even Afghanistan (the site of the two most recent wars) ... and not even in Somalia... so just WHERE is the "real problem" ??? I will let you decide... Peace!
@Adnan: This has no end as Kashmir of India and Balochistan of Pakistan. Where shall it lead to?
@ Adnan Have you looked at the newspaper lately? Do you not know what goes in Balochistan or KP? lol
Economic relations is a way of furthering amity and trust between the two nations but along with it the need to neutralise the influence of the hawks; on either sides; within the political echelons as well as society is a must as it is these elements who defile or pollute the atmosphere of amity, trust and friendship thus preventing the political and social environment in India and Pakistan from becoming congenial. The people of the two nations as well as the governments of India and Pakistan must work towards promoting a congenial environment and push forward trust and amity.
@Indian:
The only way there can ever be peace and prosperity in South Asia is if India stops brutalising the Kashmiri people and gives them the democratic right to determine their own future.
It's about time India stopped wasting its money on a futile military occupation and turned its attention to feeding its starving milions instead!
Few days ago , before MMS visited Kashmir , 8 soldiers were killed in terrorist attack . Now MMS gov handshakes with these terrorist-keepers . Just bring on Mr.Modi and finish this game.Only a fascistic Modi can save India.
@Indian:
Dream on
One and only thing a prosperous pakistan is to drop there kashmir claim and trade more with India.Otherwise no future for them