The Hindu : New opportunities for achieving peace, says U.S.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 08, 2004

International

International - India & World

New opportunities for achieving peace, says U.S.

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington JAN. 7. The Bush administration has hailed the "historic" meeting between the leaders of India and Pakistan during the SAARC summit in Islamabad holding this out as being on account of a series of acts of statesmanship and decisions by the two countries.

The United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell, told the media, after meeting the Foreign Minister of Tunisia, that the two had reviewed some of the events of the day, "most significantly the very successful talks that were held" by India and Pakistan. "... as President Musharraf said, I think it was a historic meeting that has taken place and opened new opportunities for achieving peace in that part of the world," he said.

The State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, when asked for his assessment of the "apparent" rapprochement between India and Pakistan calling for fresh talks next month, said that the U.S. had been supportive of this process and that it looked forward to working with New Delhi and Islamabad as they went forward in this dialogue.

"It is a goal that we have long supported, long sought. We think it is important for regional stability, it is important for the whole world," he said, adding that what had been established in Islamabad had important ramifications for the SAARC also.

"They have now had the very successful summit in Islamabad and we congratulate the conferees for that. They agreed to a framework to develop the South Asian Free Trade Association, adopted a plan of action on increasing poverty alleviation and signed an additional protocol on combating terrorism. So I think the dialogue, the discussions between India and Pakistan also open up the opportunities, whether it be in the trade area, the fighting of terrorism, for the region as a whole to cooperate even more closely," Mr. Boucher said.

He was asked whether there was any reason to believe why the talks between India and Pakistan next month would be any more successful than the previous rounds that had failed.

"It is always hard to predict results on a particular issue given the difficulty of these questions. At the same time, we have seen the leaders themselves put a lot of effort into getting to this point. We have seen them take concrete and practical steps. We have seen them create a momentum. We have seen what we would call acts of statesmanship," Mr. Boucher said.

"And we have also seen supportive roles that we can play, that other countries can play, in trying to help them continue to move forward. So we think they (India and Pakistan) have shown already a fair amount of determination to move forward and we think that will likely continue," he added.

PTI reports:

Besides the U.S., Germany, Canada, Australia and Nepal have hailed the move for talks.

The United Nations General Secretary, Kofi Annan, said improved relations between the South Asian neighbours would mean a lot for the region as it would not only reduce political tension but also lead to economic development.

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