Pakistan on Monday gave a fresh call for resumption of a 'composite dialogue' with India and for 'early' implementation of its confidence-building measures for enhanced economic cooperation and people-to-people contacts.
"We should have composite dialogue to tackle all outstanding issues between the two countries including that of Jammu and Kashmir," Pakistan High Commissioner-designate Aziz Ahmad Khan said in New Delhi after addressing a meeting of India-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Khan, a former Pakistan foreign office spokesperson who arrived in New Delhi on June 30, told Indian and Pakistani businessmen, "Pakistan believes that a peaceful and secure environment in the region is imperative for the promotion of meaningful economic cooperation and development.
"To achieve this objective, we must move beyond the roll back of unilateral measures and promote an enlightened vision of amity and cooperation."
In his first public engagement Khan, who has to present his credentials to President A P J Abdul Kalam, said Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had announced a comprehensive package of confidence building measures, which included restoration of road, rail and air links between the two countries.
"We believe that an early implementation of all these CBMs would help in increasing people-to-people contact and increased economic cooperation between the two countries," he said.
Khan announced that Pakistan has agreed to the Indian proposal to start the Delhi-Lahore bus service from July 11.
The envoy hoped the Samjhota Express and air services, snapped in the aftermath of the December 13 terror attack on Parliament, would restart soon.
Attributing low intra-regional trade in South Asia to the 'persistence of suspicion-prone and conflict-ridden relations between two major countries of the region -- India and Pakistan', Khan said the development of tension-free relations was a must for the economic well-being and social development of the people of both countries.
Khan said it was in this spirit that Jamali had called Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on April 28 to welcome his overture for peace and dialogue and extended an invitation to visit Pakistan. Jamali had also offered to travel to India, to further the cause of harmony, the envoy added.
Economic cooperation, Khan felt, would get a fillip if the two nations addressed the outstanding political issues on the basis of 'sovereign equality and mutual benefit'.
Khan told the gathering of businessmen that there was a need to overcome the protectionist mind-set through non-tariff and para-tariff barriers, which went against open trade and economic cooperation.
Khan felt that mega ventures such as the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline projects would help in promoting regional economic cooperation.
Khan pointed out that most of the Pakistani entrepreneurs attending the conference had to travel via Dubai, spending anywhere from 18-30 hours in transit.
This, the envoy felt, underlined the fact that communication links had to be strengthened before economic cooperation could be enhanced. "As of now," Khan said, "the situation is not very encouraging."
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