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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (45435)	1/3/2004 12:57:09 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Islamabad summit to be historic, says Sinha By Our Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha predicted on Friday that the 12th summit of the South Asian leaders that opens here on Sunday will be extremely successful and it would ultimately pave the way for greater regional cooperation. "I think the Islamabad summit of Saarc will indeed be extremely successful and historic," declared Mr Sinha in an upbeat tone at a Press briefing here on Friday night. His optimism stemmed from what he described as "significant breakthrough" in the first round of the Council of Ministers meeting on Friday. "We received the final draft of Safta and it was accepted by the Council of Ministers and we will recommend it to the summit," he said Mr Sinha said the ministers agreed on the adoption of the Safta Framework Agreement, the Additional Protocol on the Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and the Saarc Social Charter at the 12th summit. "I wanted to share my happiness and satisfaction on these things," a beaming Sinha told journalists. He made no effort to conceal that the progress made at the ministers meeting was far beyond his expectations. "When we left India hope was less but here things have moved very fast and in a very positive direction," he conceded. Asked if his "super optimism" would jumpstart bilateral talks, the Indian foreign minister said that ultimately the regional cooperation would get translated into bilateral cooperation. He pointed out that Safta would also mean free trade between Pakistan and India. He agreed with the view that the momentum generated by the achievement of Saarc objectives would pave the way for greater bilateral cooperation on all fronts. "A successful Saarc summit has the potential of rubbing off on all bilateral relationships including the relationship between India and Pakistan," the Indian foreign minister stated. Mr Sinha was visibly amused when asked till when would the suspense about Prime Minister Vajpayee's bilateral meeting with President Musharraf or Prime Minister Jamali continue. "We would like you to remain in suspense for a while," he said smilingly. In reply to a question the Indian foreign minister asserted that the Saarc Charter did not provide a role for dispute resolution, saying that such disputes could be resolved through other means. Referring to the Indian proposal of a South Asian Economic Union and single currency Mr Sinha said it had received "enthusiastic response" from various delegations. He chose not to name the countries these delegations represented. In view of the progress on the Safta framework agreement, he said, India had proposed that the year 2015 should be set for the South Asian Union instead of 2020, which was initially suggested. Defending the proposal of South Asian Union Mr Sinha insisted that it was in the mutual interest of the Saarc peoples, pointing out that it followed a healthy global trend. In the context of poverty alleviation he said India had proposed that a uniform yardstick for measuring poverty be established. Earlier, Mr Sinha informed journalists that the Council of Ministers on Friday concluded most of the business on the agenda of the summit and it would be giving final touches to the report for the summit on Saturday.