Pakistan termed the Agra summit as inconclusive and asserted that it was not a failure at a crowded press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference less than 24 hours after the summit collapsed on Monday night, Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said contrary to the bleak picture painted by the media, valuable progress was made at Agra on evolving a structure for sustained dialogue process that would take Jammu and Kashmir, peace and security, terrorism and drug trafficking at the political level. “It is unfortunate that the expected conciliation could not materialise. Nevertheless, the president remains convinced that the existing goodwill on both sides can and will achieve mutually-desired results,” Sattar said.
He termed as unfortunate non-adoption of a joint declaration and said the draft which was considered would serve as valuable foundation for the two leaders for reaching a Full agreement at a future meeting.
Sattar said that both the leaders share a common vision of peace, progress and prosperity for their people for the 21st century.
“Musharraf complimented Vajpayee for the gracious initiative to invite him for resumption of dialogue between the two countries after a hiatus of nearly two years,” he said.
Sattar said, “While Vajpayee has accepted the invitation to visit Islamabad to pay a return visit, the two leaders are expected to meet in New York in September and continue efforts to promote agreement.”
“Cognizant of benefits of peace and cooperation between the two countries, Musharraf and Vajpayee held wide ranging discussions on Pakistan-India relations particularly on Jammu and Kashmir,” the foreign minister said.
Bureau Report