NEW DELHI: India today said the Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan has given ‘good signals” in normalizing bilateral ties but cautioned against expecting “magic overnight”.
“With the new government (in Pakistan), good signals have been given by them. But I don’t think we should expect magic overnight”, External Affair Minister Salman Khurshid said, apparently referring to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s pledge to “progressively pursue” normalization of ties with India.
“I think we should wait for a little more time and give (them) little more time to show what they (Pakistan) are able to do and what they are capable of doing,” Khurshid told reporters on the sidelines of the opening of ASEAN-India Centre at Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) here.
“Government of India is engaged in both keeping track of what was happening in Pakistan and also ensuring that the channels of communication remains open in our interest,” he said.
Earlier, while addressing the gathering, he said the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership has strong foundations of shared civilisational bonds, a recent history of common effort towards economic growth and prosperity and a common future that has to be secured not just within the new security and economic architecture of the Asia Pacific but also the Indo-Pacific. He said that over the last few years, “our region has seen a multiplicity of stakeholders and a fraternity of purpose for tackling common challenges.
“We need to build an architecture that contributes to the geo-strategic importance of the region to global processes and, most importantly, secures economic growth and prosperity for the people in our countries. This is the strength of the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership as an anchor of stability from the western confines of the Indian Ocean to the shores of the Pacific, from the Straits of Hormuz to the Straits of Malacca,” he said.
Khurshid said ASEAN-India relations has “achieved very clear achievements” across the three pillars of political and security cooperation, economic integration and socio-cultural exchanges.
Capacity building, development, economic growth and peace and stability have been the characteristics of the ASEAN-India partnership. The numerous projects under finalization as per the Plan of Action for 2010-2015 are set to bring a qualitative enhancement in our partnership, he added. -PTI
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