Russia speaks for normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan

Moscow speaks for the normalisation of the relations between India and Pakistan. This was disclosed to a RIA Novosti correspondent by Official Spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Aleksander Yakovenko. According to him, the current situation in the South Asia will be in the focus of Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's forthcoming visit to India.

"Moscow welcomes the recent statements of the Indian government concerning its readiness to take the necessary measures in order to normalise its relations with Islamabad," Yakovenko stressed.

"Russia believes that the implementation of the New Delhi's plans concerning the resumption of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level, restoration of air and bus transportation between the two states, will contribute to the settlement of the present Indian and Pakistani discords by means of peaceful dialogue," the diplomat said. According to him, "this will correspond to the interests of both India and Pakistan and contribute to the development of peace and security in the South Asian region." Russia and India attach high importance to the security and co-operation issues in the Asian-Pacific region and speak for further increasing the role of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum for security issues as an instrument of multipartite political dialogue in the region, Yakovenko said.

The development of the trilateral Russo-Indo-Chinese dialogue, initiated at the informal meeting between the foreign ministers in the course of the 57th UN General Assembly in New York is also of a particular value, Yakovenko stressed. "Co-operation between Russia, India and China may become a workable format for international and regional stability and counteraction to the threats and challenges of modernity," the Official Spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry added.