June 17, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, June 16: During President Pervez Musharraf’s four-nation US and European tour, Pakistan will seek to build and consolidate future-looking inter-locking relationships with its western allies binding “our destinies together as allies and partners,” a Foreign Office spokesman said here on Monday.

At his weekly news briefing, spokesman Masud Khan said it would not be a short-term relationship and remarked: “We have high expectations from the meetings that President Gen Pervez Musharraf will have with heads of state or government in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France.”

Refering to President Musharraf’s meeting with President Bush at Camp David on June 24, the spokesman said the two presidents would have “an exhaustive and comprehensive” agenda, focusing most importantly on Pakistan-US long-term bilateral ties.”

He said within the established structure and comprehensive framework at the highest level the two leaders of Pakistan and United States would discuss the situation in the South Asia and address all issues between Pakistan and India, including Jammu and Kashmir, among the several other principal topics of mutual interest such as post-war Iraq.

About the proposed Pakistan-India talks on normalization of relations, the spokesman indicated that while no date had been fixed for a dialogue process to begin, the two sides were making initial contacts on revival of road, rail and ultimately air links. A Pakistan Tourists Development team of officials is due to leave here for Delhi on Wednesday.

However, Mr Masud Khan stressed the need for and importance of opening the dialogue process, saying that the two countries should quicken the pace of establishing contacts and move on to resuming talks about “the substance”.

About the confusion and controversy about the level of talks being proposed by India —- whether these should be between President Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee or between prime ministers of the two countries — the spokesman clarified that Pakistan had received no formal communication from Delhi suggesting Mushar-raf- Vajpayee talks and sug-gested that it was premature to say anything definite about it.