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Visit of President of Pakistan - Briefing by FS (April 8, 2012)

President of Pakistan on his private visit to India met with PM of India on April 8, 2012. Foreign Secretary briefed the media on the outcome of the meeting between PM and President Asif Ali Zardari. Briefing by Foreign Secretary on the private visit of President of Pakistan to India Official Spokesperson (Shri Syed Akbaruddin): Good afternoon everybody and thank you very much for coming on a Sunday afternoon here. I must apologize for the slight delay. We have here with us Foreign Secretary who will make an opening statement and a few remarks. May I mention that we have only a limited amount of time and so we may not have a long interaction, but we will try to respond to most of the issues that you have in mind. With that, I will now request Foreign Secretary to make his opening remarks. Foreign Secretary (Shri Ranjan Mathai): Good afternoon. Really the apology for being late is not from him but from me. It is becoming a bit traditional, but this time there were difficulties in my getting here on time. Let me start by saying the Prime Minister and President Zardari spent about forty minutes before lunch, and they had a friendly and constructive conversation covering all aspects of India-Pakistan bilateral relations, and regional and global issues of common interest. As you know, this is a private visit. President Zardari was kind enough to accept Prime Minister's invitation to lunch in New Delhi on his way to visit Ajmer Sharief, where he is in fact headed just now. In their discussions, PM and the Pakistani President noted that there had been steady progress in the dialogue process which was restarted last year. The dialogue process will continue as planned in the months to come. PM expressed appreciation of the fact that Pakistan has moved forward on trade-related issues. Both leaders felt that we should tap into the considerable potential of bilateral economic and trade ties. The issue has been discussed by the Commerce Ministers and Commerce Secretaries, and there is a way forward which has already been identified. The leaders discussed the problem of terrorism, which is a major issue by which the Indian people will judge progress in the bilateral relationship. PM told President Zardari that it was imperative to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to justice, and prevent activities aimed against India from Pakistani soil. In this context PM also mentioned the activities of Hafiz Saeed. President Zardari said the matter needed to be discussed further between the two Governments. It was noted that the Home Secretaries are due to meet shortly and they would be discussing this issue further. President Zardari mentioned the need for all issues including the issues of Sir Creek, Siachen, and the issue of Kashmir to be addressed. Both felt that we need to move forward step by step. The two leaders also discussed developments in the region, and they are determined to use the potential of regional cooperation for the economic development of people of both countries. It was evident from the conversation that both countries consider the dialogue process and the improvement of bilateral relations as being in mutual interest of the people of India and Pakistan. The leaders also felt that priority needed to be given to issues of people-to-people contacts. In this context, they decided that a liberalized visa agreement which has been worked out should be signed during the next meeting of the Home/Interior Secretaries. President Zardari invited Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan. PM accepted the invitation with pleasure and said he would be happy to visit at an appropriate time. The diplomatic channels will be used to work out the mutually acceptable dates and the substantive preparations for that visit. One issue I forgot to mention is that the PM mentioned that he had heard the news about the avalanche which caused the feared death of a very large number of soldiers and said, if there was something humanitarian that was required of us, we would be happy to be of assistance. The President thanked PM for this and said they would check and if there was any requirement, they would come back to us. Thank you. Official Spokesperson: Thank you very much. (Concluded) New Delhi April 8, 2012