JAKARTA, April 23: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday Pakistan and India had decided to solve their outstanding disputes in an amicable manner. He told Indonesian leading English language daily The Jakarta Post that the two sides had taken a major step in this regard and would promote confidence building measures (CBMs).

In reply to a question about the recent development in the China-India relations, President Musharraf said it would not affect Islamabad’s ties with China. “We look at our own bilateral interests, and I don’t think there is any difference in the interests between China and Pakistan, as our ties with China will carry on from strength to strength, irrespective of the Beijing’s contact with Delhi.”

President Musharraf told the newspaper that during his meeting with host leader Susilo Bambang Yothoyono, they had reiterated strong political bonds between the two countries and decided to look into areas for bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

“We both agreed that these bonds need to be cemented through commercial, trade and Islamic bonds, because that is the real cement in this century of geo-economics, which are commercial, trade and political bonds.”

President Musharraf said they also discussed terrorism, saying that the two sides had decided to coordinate and cooperate in this regard.

“Intelligence is one of the areas where we need to cooperate, to have a common stand which can assist in attacking terrorism.

“I do understand that in fighting terrorism, the real weapon is intelligence, more than operations. That’s why we decided to cooperate in that area also.”

Pakistan and Indonesia, he said, had agreed to encourage the private sector.—APP