SINGAPORE - Ahead of his visit to Islamabad later this year, Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna Friday said that although terrorism posed a continuing threat to the region India and Pakistan had made major strides in reducing trust deficit in the last two years, reports Indian media.
“Over the past two years, we have made major strides in reducing the trust deficit between India and Pakistan,” Krishna said at the Institute of South Asian Studies here.
Alluding to talks with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar in New Delhi last year, Krishna, who is on a three-day visit to Singapore, said he planned to visit Islamabad this summer.
“We affirmed the importance of carrying forward the dialogue process with a view to resolving peacefully all outstanding issues through constructive and result oriented engagement,” he said.
“We agreed that terrorism poses a continuing threat to peace and security and reiterated the firm and undiluted commitment of our two countries to fight and eliminate this scourge in all its forms and manifestations,” he said. Krishna also welcomed “Pakistan’s efforts to normalise trade relations with India by moving from positive to negative lists, and their eventual elimination,” a key step towards Pakistan granting MFN status to India.
Krishna is likely to travel to Islamabad in June-July for foreign minister-level talks that will review the peace process which the two neighbours reviewed around a year ago.
The prime ministers of Pakistan and India met in the Maldives last November and resolved to write a new chapter in their relationship. Stressing on New Delhi’s improving relations with neighbouring countries, Krishna pushed for greater regional integration in South Asia.
“In our immediate neighbourhood of South Asia, India has been driven by the vision of encouraging regional integration to bring about peace and prosperity for more than one-and-a-half billion people living in this region,” he said.
“As part of this vision, India has been implementing a policy of asymmetric engagement in providing greater market access to our neighbours, which enables integration in a mutually beneficial manner. This is one of the most significant challenges facing our foreign policy today,” he said.