RAWALPINDI: The Soviet Prime Minister, Mr Alexei Kosygin, tonight [May 30] expressed the hope that Pakistan and India would “successfully advance” on the road they took at the time of the Tashkent meeting. He was replying to a welcome speech at a banquet given by President Yahya Khan in honour of the Soviet Leader.
Mr Kosygin said: “The Soviet Government attaches great significance to the normalising of the international situation both on the whole and in this particular area of Asia. It attaches importance to expansion of friendly ties between peace-loving nations of this area. We should like to see Pakistan, Afghanistan and India developing relations of friendship and constructive co-operation. The Soviet Union on its part would do all it can to promote this.”
The Soviet Prime Minister said close as these nations in history and culture are, it would be possible for them to have peaceful cooperation in order to accelerate their progress. “In this connection, we sincerely wish Pakistan and India successful advance on the road they took at the time of Tashkent meeting,” he added.
The Soviet Union, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, Mr Kosygin said, had proclaimed as their basic concept the consolidation of peace. It was, therefore, important and necessary to find ways to solve all the problems of the world by peaceful means. — Correspondent
Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2019
