Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that Pakistan and Bhutan must strengthen their bilateral ties by adding substance to these on the basis of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit. The Prime Minister called for enhanced political contacts including the Parliamentary exchanges and invited the Speaker of Bhutan's Parliament on behalf of the Speaker National Assembly to visit Pakistan at his earliest convenience.
The Prime Minister proposed that Pakistani Parliamentarians should visit Bhutan to study the Bhutanese development model especially its concept of gross national happiness based on more holistic and natural development rather than on the economic index.
Talking to Lyonchhen Jigmi Yoezer Thinley, Prime Minister of Bhutan during the formal talks here on Saturday, Gilani stated that both the countries should explore the possibilities of sharing information and good practices as both of them have huge potential of hydropower generation as well as on preservation of environmental and natural disaster management.
He expressed his earnest hope that the goodwill existing between the governments and peoples of Pakistan and Bhutan would be translated into substantive economic and commercial investment as well as educational and cultural links.
Noting that Guru Padma Sambahawa, the second Bhuda and the most reverent Buddhist personality of the Buddhist faith in Bhutan was born in Swat, the Prime Minister proposed consideration of religious tourism from Bhutan to Pakistan and invited the Bhutanese Prime Minister to visit Swat in his next official visit. The Prime Minister urged his Bhutanese counterpart for exchange of cultural entourage, youth groups as well as tourists and research scholars between the two countries on discovering the common historical and cultural heritage. The Prime Minister offered Pakistan's co-operation to Bhutan in the fields of education and human development by offering increased number of scholarships for the Bhutanese students particularly in medicine and engineering fields. He reiterated Pakistan's standing offer for the training of Bhutanese diplomats in Pakistan's Foreign Service Academy.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan greatly appreciated the eminent role played by Bhutan, its government and people in steering regional co-operation towards its objectives under the Prime Minister of Bhutan's Chairmanship of Saarc. He added that Saarc's spirit must be carried forward for promoting peace, stability and well being of the people of South Asia for which Pakistan would be happy to work closely with Bhutan to realise the vision of Saarc Charter.
The Prime Minister said that Thimphu's spirit had worked wonders and he was personally grateful to the Prime Minister of Bhutan for facilitating his talks with the Indian Prime Minister in Thimphu where it was decided to move forward and resume the composite dialogue between the two countries.
The Prime Minister underlined that Pakistan wishes to have friendly, co-operative and good neighbourly relations with India and noted with satisfaction that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also agreed that dialogue was the only way forward for the two countries. The Prime Minister also noted that after his meeting with his Indian counterpart, it was again in Thimphu that the Foreign Secretaries of Indian and Pakistan met last month to move the relationship between their two countries on the basis of Thimphu's spirit.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan has abiding interests in the unity, territorial integrity, stability and development of Afghanistan and it was Pakistan's desire that all neighbours of Afghanistan and the international community should respect the principles of non-interference and non-intervention in Afghanistan's internal affairs. Pakistan, he added, supports and will continue to do so for an Afghan led and Afghan owned process of reconciliation.
The Prime Minister of Bhutan Lyonchhen Jigmi Yoezer Thinley while conveying the gratitude and best wishes of the King and people of Bhutan to Pakistan, its people and leadership appreciated Prime Minister's very constructive role for making last year's Thimphu's Saarc Summit a success.
He said that while being the host, Bhutan and some other countries expected some problems in the negotiations process for reaching consensus on the outcome document but it was Prime Minister of Pakistan and his delegation who put out their very positive attitude that helped to resolve all the contentious issues. The Prime Minister underlined great potential of co-operation and progress of the Saarc countries and welcomed Prime Minister of Pakistan's strong commitment to take the Saarc process forward and engage India in a constructive dialogue for the peace, stability and prosperity of both the countries as well as the region at large. He said Indian Prime Minister had personally told him that he was greatly appreciative of Prime Minister's reconciliatory and positive attitude towards Pakistan-India relations. The Prime Minister of Bhutan stated that he hence was very hopeful that with the sincerity in dialogue process between India and Pakistan from both sides, the contentious issues would be resolved through peaceful means.
The Bhutanese Prime Minister agreed with his Pakistani counterpart on the need of strengthening and deepening of ties bilaterally and through Saarc mechanism and expressed his gratitude for Pakistan's assistance in development of Bhutanese cottage industry as well as for its offer of training Bhutanese Bankers, diplomats and other civil servants. He said that Bhutan would avail all the scholarships and training courses being offered by Pakistan.
While noting that both the countries have been supporting each other's candidature in the international fora, he assured the Prime Minister that this co-operation will continue even in the future. The Prime Minister of Bhutan recognised that Pakistan has most critical role in determining the future of Afghanistan for restoration of peace and stability in that country. He also agreed with his Pakistani counterpart that the neighbouring countries and international community must not interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs and allow the Afghan government and people should be allowed to own the ongoing reconciliation process.
Minister for Economic Affairs of Bhutan Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, Secretaries Cabinet and Foreign Affairs and Ambassador of Bhutan to Pakistan DashoBap Kesang also present on the occasion. Minister for Interior A Rehman Malik, Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Communication Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, Secretary Foreign Affairs and other senior officers were also present in the meeting. -PR