News
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Pakistan, Bhutan vow to cement trade, tourism ties
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Bhutan on Saturday expressed resolve to further strengthen ties in all spheres, with a particular focus on trade and tourism.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Bhutanese counterpart Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley in around an hour-long talks covered a whole range of bilateral issues besides regional situation.
Prime Minister Thinley, who is here on a three-day visit on the invitation of Prime Minister Gilani, noted important role Pakistan was playing in the region.
Gilani stressed the need to share information and good practices, by tapping into the huge potential of hydropower generation and natural disaster management. He expressed the hope that good will between the governments of Pakistan and Bhutan would be translated into substantive economic, commercial, investment, educational and cultural links.
Thinley underlined the great potential of cooperation and progress of the SAARC countries and welcomed Gilani’s strong commitment to take the SAARC process forward. He lauded Gilani’s contribution to engage India into a constructive dialogue for peace, stability and prosperity of both the countries and the region at large.
During the talks, Pakistan also offered Bhutan cooperation in education, human development and increased number of scholarships to Bhutan, particularly in medicine and engineering. Gilani reiterated Pakistan’s offer for training of Bhutanese diplomats at its Foreign Services Academy.
Gilani said enhanced high-level political contacts would benefit the two countries and invited the Speaker of Bhutanese Parliament to visit Pakistan. Gilani also proposed that the Pakistani parliamentarians should also visit Bhutan to study their development model, especially the model of “Gross National Happiness”. Gilani expressed the hope that interaction among SAARC member states would provide an effective mechanism for promotion of peace and progress in the region. Gilani said Pakistan would be pleased to assist Bhutan in infrastructure development, telecommunications, agriculture, health and education sectors. The two leaders also discussed closer cooperation at the regional forum of SAARC. Gilani said the Thimpu spirit had worked wonders and he was grateful to the prime minister of Bhutan for facilitating his talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Thimpu, where it was decided to move forward and resume the composite dialogue between the two countries.
Gilani underlined that Pakistan wishes friendly, cooperative and good relations with India and noted with satisfaction that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also noted that dialogue was the only way forward for the two countries. Prime Minister Thinley said the Indian Prime Minister personally told him that he was appreciative of Prime Minister Gilani’s reconciliatory and positive attitude towards Pak-India relations. He expressed the hope that the sincerity and the dialogue process between India and Pakistan would help resolve the contentious issues through peaceful means.
He agreed with his Pakistani counterpart for strengthening bilateral relations through SAARC mechanism and expressed his gratitude for Pakistan’s assistance in Bhutanese cottage industry and its offer of training in banking, diplomats and civil servants.
The two sides highlighted the close relations between Pakistan and Bhutan based on common historical and cultural links especially common Gandhara heritage. Prime Minister Gilani pointed out that Guru Padmasambhawa, the second Buddha and the most revered personality of the Buddhist faith was born in Swat Pakistan.
Gilani said Pakistan has an abiding interest in the unity, territorial integrity and stability of Afghanistan and it was Pakistan’s desire that all neighbours should respect the principle of non-interference in Afghanistan.
He said Pakistan supports an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process of reconciliation. Those who were part of the talks included Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Economic Affairs Minister Hafeez Sheikh, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan, Minister for Communication Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk