NEW DELHI, 10 September 2006 — Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in the coming week on the sidelines of the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) summit in Havana, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran yesterday outlined several Indian proposals to strengthen ties between India and Pakistan.

These include the launching of bus services across the line of control (LoC) between Kargil and Skardu in Pakistani Kashmir and Jammu and Sialkot. India is also in favor of upgrading the road up to Wagah and also the checkpoint there, making it an integrated one with all facilities including health care, Saran said.

Projecting India’s growing economy as a great opportunity for its neighbors, Saran emphasized India’s willingness to go as far as they are comfortable. “India has been growing economically during the last 15 years. It offers a great opportunity to its neighbors, not a threat,” he said.

“We don’t have any barriers. Our motto is: We should be willing to go as far as our neighbor is comfortable,” Saran said. While delivering a talk on the topic “Does India have a neighborhood policy?” Saran said, “We need to deal with our neighbors with confidence. We need to get away from the defensive mindset.” With specific reference to Pakistan, he described the people-to-people contact launched two years ago as successful.

Manmohan’s meeting with Musharraf in Havana will be their first interaction following the July 11 serial blasts in Bombay, which affected the continuation of high-level Indo-Pak talks.

Against the background of a fresh terror strike in Malegaon on Friday, India has made it clear that resumption of foreign secretary level talks with Pakistan will depend on “satisfactory” outcome of the meeting between Manmohan and Musharraf and if Islamabad shows willingness to curb cross-border terrorism. As terrorists struck in Malegaon in Maharashtra, New Delhi said it would be difficult to ensure success of the dialogue process unless Islamabad addressed the issue of cross-border terrorism in a “substantive way”.

Manmohan and Musharraf will meet in Havana on Sept. 15-16. On this, Saran earlier told reporters, “Both leaders are very conscious of the importance of the Indo-Pak relations and both leaders are committed to taking forward the dialogue and peace process.”

Describing terrorism as a hurdle in this process, he said, “But at the same time there is recognition that unless the issue of terrorism is addressed (by Pakistan) in a substantive way, it will be difficult to ensure success of the dialogue process.” Regarding the resumption of foreign secretary level talks, Saran said, “Yes, if the results of the summit meeting are satisfactory and we see that there is willingness on the part of Pakistan to work together with India to deal with what Pakistan itself says is a shared threat of terrorism.”

Manmohan left yesterday for an eight-day visit to Brazil and Cuba. Terrorism, nuclear disarmament and South-South cooperation will be high on his agenda during the NAM Summit.

Manmohan is also expected to focus on the UN Security Council reforms first in the trilateral India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Summit on Sept. 13 in Brasilia and then at the NAM Summit in Havana on Sept. 15 and Sept. 16.

He will meet Brazilian President Lula Da Silva and South African President Thabo Mbeki in Brasilia. He is hopeful that Brazil and South Africa will support India at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).