Text of Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar's Statement,July 16, 2001

The following is the text of statement issued by Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar here on Tuesday, a day after the summit between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

President Pervez Musharraf has returned from India optimistic about prospects for better relations between Pakistan and India. Considerable progress was made in summit level discussions and in evolving the text of a declaration.

It is unfortunate that the expected consummation did not materialise. Nevertheless, the president remains convinced that the existing goodwill on both sides can and will achieve mutually desired results.

President Musharraf and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee share a common vision of peace, progress and prosperity for their peoples in the 21st century. The president has complimented the Indian Prime Minister for the gracious initiative to invite him for the resumption of dialogue between the two countries after a hiatus of nearly two years.

Recognising the benefits of peace and cooperation between the two neighbouring countries, President Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee held wide-ranging discussions on Pakistan-India relations, particularly on Jammu and Kashmir.

They affirmed commitment to addressing each other's expressed concerns, creating an environment conducive to the establishment of peaceful, friendly and cooperative ties, for the welfare of the two peoples.

While in New Delhi, President Musharraf welcomed the opportunity to meet with the leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. We hope India would accord them travel documents to visit Pakistan for consultations.

Time did not permit substantive discussion on any specific issue. But valuable progress was made at Agra on evolving a structure for a sustained dialogue process, that would take up Jammu and Kashmir, peace and security, and terrorism and drug trafficking at the political level.

Economic and commercial cooperation, Siachin, Wuller Barrage, Sir Creek and promotion of friendly exchanges in various levels would be addressed at the level of high officials.

All these issues need to be addressed purposefully, constructively and in an integrated manner, with a sense of urgency.

Responding to press questions, the President of Pakistan was forthcoming on discussion of any issues of concern to India. He emphasised again and again that realism requires a focus, and that progress on settlement of Jammu and Kashmir would be conducive to normalisation of bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Vajpayee has accepted our president's invitation for a return visit. The two leaders are expected to meet in New York in September and continue efforts to promote agreement. The goodwill between them is an asset for better relations between the two countries.

President Musharraf had a valuable opportunity to meet a large number of prominent Indian leaders. His exchanges of views with intellectuals and media luminaries will no doubt contribute to better mutual understanding.

Enlightened opinion in India is no less keen than that in Pakistan to extricate bilateral relations from the time wrap in which they have been trapped for 54 years.

Like the Indian Prime Minster, the Minster for External affairs, Mr Jaswant Singh brought equal goodwill to the task of translating the convergence of thoughts at the summit level into words.

The two sides came very close to bringing the declaration close to adoption and approval. In fact twice yesterday it appeared we had succeeded in arriving at a mutually acceptable formulation. It is unfortunate that the fruition of the exercise was aborted.

The Agra Summit remained inconclusive but it did not fail. In fact, the two leaders succeeded in covering a broad area of common ground in the draft declaration. That will provide a valuable foundation for the two leaders to reach full agreement at their next meeting.

Compliments are due also to intellectuals, media and the common people in India as in Pakistan for their contribution to building an environment of opinion conducive to forward movement. Heartened by the prevalent goodwill, President Musharraf believes popular support will be an asset also to leaders in India who want to work for a future better than the past."