KATHMANDU, Nov 1: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said here on Monday said that there was a complete unanimity of views between Pakistan and Nepal on all regional and international issues.
He was talking to newsmen after talks with Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba at the latter's Secretariat, Singha Darbar, on the first leg of his three-nation tour.
Mr Aziz said both sides had frank talks on all bilateral issues including economic cooperation, trade enhancement and investment opportunities.
The prime minister was assisted in the talks by Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, Minister for Industries Jehangir Tareen, Textile Minister Mushtaq Ali Cheema, Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar and Minister of State for Water and Power Amir Muqam.
"We can see eye to eye on many issues and have held fruitful discussions, including the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (Safta) and Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
"We agreed that Pakistan will provide Nepal with export debt for acquiring defence equipment from Islamabad," Mr Aziz said, adding that Pakistan had offered Nepal's civil servants training facilities.
The prime minister said that both countries would hold trade talks soon to increase the trade volume from the present $12 million to $100 million.
Earlier, the prime minister stressed enhanced cooperation among Saarc countries' private sector entrepreneurs and urged them to go for joint venture.
Mr Deuba appreciated services of Mr Aziz for rejuvenating activities of Saarc and lauded the on-going Pakistan-India talks which he said might lead to the resolution of all problems between the two countries.
He also briefed Mr Aziz on the internal situation of Nepal. Mr Deuba said his country believed in resolution of all regional issues through bilateral talks.
Mr Aziz, in turn, reiterated Pakistan's condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. He also briefed his counterpart about steps being taken by Pakistan to curb and eliminate terrorism from the country.
He expressed his satisfaction over the pace of Pakistan-India talks and hoped that it would help resolve the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir as well.
"We are committed to resolving the Kashmir issue according to aspirations of the Kashmiri people," the prime minister said.
Earlier, the prime minister had a meeting with Saarc Secretary-General Quama Rahim.
PRINCIPLED STAND: Earlier speaking at a seminar entitled "Promoting Regional Cooperation - Pakistan's role," held at a local hotel, the prime minister said that Islamabad had a principled stand on Kashmir and it was pursuing a peaceful settlement of the issue through composite dialogue with India.
He said Pakistan would like that all stakeholders, including the people of Kashmir, were taken on board while seeking a settlement of the core issue between the two countries.
"We are ready to share our information with Saarc countries on peaceful use of nuclear energy if so desired by member countries."
Interestingly, businessmen, intellectuals and journalists alike invited for a question-and-answer session put most of the questions about Kashmir.
"We hope that the on-going dialogue process with India will bring with it the most desired solution sooner than later to give peace a chance in the region; it will hopefully result in enhancement of development activities for the larger good of the people of the two countries."
He said the composite dialogue process became possible only after President Gen Pervez Musharraf and former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpaee met on sidelines of Saarc summit in Islamabad early this year which resulted in the Islamabad Declaration, which paved the way for a vital meeting of President Gen Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in New York.
He said that the dialogue process was satisfactorily moving ahead, and hoped that both countries would be able to resolve all contentious issues through bilateral talks.
The prime minister said that the president's recent remarks about options on Kashmir were hypothetical in nature and these only meant to generate a debate on internal level on the issue and that objective had been achieved.
Replying to a question about the possibility of the change of Saarc charter to bring political issues also under the ambit of Saarc, Mr Aziz said: "I think the member countries could seek resolution of all political problems through other means while objectives of economic and trade cooperation should not be compromised for this."
When his attention was drawn toward the fact that both Pakistan and India possessed nuclear capability and they also held aggressive postures against each other, the prime minister said that Pakistan had no aggressive designs against any country and dismissed apprehensions of any outbreak of a nuclear war with India or proliferation of its peaceful nuclear programme, adding that "our nuclear facilities were well protected under a robust command and control system."
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