New Delhi, Oct 28: US Secretary of State Colin Powell today spoke to External Affairs Minsiter Yashwant Sinha on phone in Brussels and congratulated India for the 12-point peace package offered by it to Pakistan. Powell also told Sinha that Washington hoped that Pakistan will respond "positively" to the peace initiative, external affairs ministry spokesman said.
Sinha is in Brussels to lay the groundwork for the India- European union summit scheduled to be held here next month.
Two key EU leaders Javier Solana and Chris Patten also welcomed Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's peace initiative and the new set of confidence-building measures suggested by New Delhi to Islamabad.
Solana, representative of the council of the European Union and Patten, Commissioner for External Relations of the European Union, voiced the hope that these fresh initiatives on India's part would yield "positive results, and would open the way to a peaceful resolution of outstanding bialteral issues" between India and Pakistan, the spokesman here said.
Giving details about Sinha's engagements in Brussels where he arrived yesterday evening, the spokesman said the minister met Solana over a working dinner and held preparatory discussion for the India-EU summit scheduled to be held on November 29.
"Both sides are attaching great importance" to the forthcoming summit, he said adding Sinha also met Patten who was aided by senior EU officials.
During these two meetings, Sinha and his EU interlocutors exchanged views on a comprehensvie range of issues including India-EU bilateral relations, global terrorism, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bureau Report