Meeting with Modi was constructive: Nawaz Sharif

NEW DELHI: Pakistan prime minister Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif said that he had a good and constructive meeting with Indian prime minister Narinder Modi here today.

While talking with media after his meeting with Modi, Mian Nawaz Sharif said he had come here on the invitation by the Indian prime minister to attend his oath-taking ceremony yesterday and today he held a meeting with him in a warm and cordial atmosphere.

The Pakistan prime minister said that they agreed that their meeting in New Delhi should be a historic opportunity for both countries.

“I pointed out that we were at the beginning of our respective tenures with a clear mandate. This provides us the opportunity of meeting the hopes and aspirations of our peoples that we will succeed in turning a new page in our relations. The one and a half billion people of the two countries want us to focus on their well-being and welfare, he said.

Mian Nawaz Sharif said that he had recalled his invitation to prime minister Vajpayee to Lahore in February 1999 and told him that he intended to pick up the threads of the Lahore Declaration, from where it had to be left off in October 1999.

”I stressed to prime minister Modi that we have a common agenda of development and economic revival, which is not possible to achieve without peace and stability in the region. I urged that together, we should rid the region of instability and insecurity, that has plagued us for decades,” he added.

“Consequently, it was important for us to work together for peace, progress and prosperity. Finally, I urged that we had to strive to change confrontation into cooperation, said Nawaz Sharif. Engaging in accusations and counter-accusations would be counter-productive, I emphasized. “My government, therefore, stands ready to discuss all issues between our two countries, in a spirit of cooperation and sincerity”.

He further said: “After all, we owe it to our people to overcome the legacy of mistrust and misgivings. We agreed that this common objective could be facilitated by greater people-to-people exchanges, at all levels”.

The Pakistan prime minister said that Indian prime minister Modi warmly reciprocated his sentiments and remarked that his visit to New Delhi was seen as a special gesture by the people of India. “He stated that it was incumbent on both of us to work together, to achieve our common objectives for peace and development,” Nawaz Sharif said.

He said that they also agreed the two Foreign Secretaries would be meeting soon to review and carry forward their bilateral agenda, in the spirit of their meeting today.

Mian Nawaz Sharif further said: “I take leave of this historic city. I do so with a strong sense that the leaderships and the peoples of our two countries share desire and mutual commitment to carry forward our relationship, for the larger good of our peoples”.