‘Kashmir key to peace, prosperity’

As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Shaukat Aziz today reviewed the ongoing peace process

As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Shaukat Aziz today reviewed the ongoing peace process, including “progress” on the contentious Siachen and Sir Creek issues, Pakistan offered to export cement to India and agreed to increase direct air links to facilitate greater travel.

The Pakistani offer to export cement came a day after India scrapped countervailing duty and additional customs duty on cement, making imports more viable. Ahead of the meeting, Aziz told reporters that objectives of peace and prosperity in the region could not be realised “without a durable resolution to the Kashmir issue”. At the meeting, Aziz assured Singh that Pakistan would take early action to return fishing boats seized from Indian fishermen and review the status of each other’s citizens in jails. Pakistan will also be issuing more visas to Sikh pilgrims to visit shrines there. Aziz thanked the Indian government for the financial support given to families of the victims of the Samjhauta Express blasts in which 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, were killed.

Meanwhile, with a pledge to make tangible progress on four issues — water (including flood control), energy, food and environment — in the next six months, the 14th SAARC summit came to an end here today.

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“We (the member countries) will work with international agencies to develop and implement viable cross-border regional projects in these four sectors,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in his concluding remarks.

Later, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee termed the summit as the “most successful and least contentious” of all SAARC summits. The leaders expressed concern over global climate change and its impact on lives and livelihoods.

On the energy front, the summit acknowledged the need for “expediting the development of conventional energy resources in a sustainable manner and strengthening the renewable energy development such as on hydropower, bio-fuel, solar an wind”.

In order to manage emergencies caused by natural and man-made calamities and food shortages, the leaders welcomed the signing of the Intergovernmental Agreement establishing the SAARC Food Bank with the participation of all member countries. The Food Bank will supplement national efforts to provide food security to the people of the region.

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The SAARC Summit agreed to operationalise the SAARC Development Fund and establish the South Asian University besides agreeing to set up the SAARC Arbitration Council.

“The cooperation and accommodation that have characterised our deliberations and negotiations show that our countries are ready for a transformation of SAARC into an effective instrument of regional advancement,” the Prime Minister said in his closing remarks.