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New Delhi, Apr 19 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said that India has pursued the path of dialogue to reduce the trust deficit with Pakistan and to resolve all outstanding issues in a spirit of openness.

“With Pakistan, we have pursued the path of dialogue to reduce the trust deficit and to resolve all outstanding issues in a spirit of openness and in the hope that we can build a better future for the peoples of both countries. At the same time, we have never abandoned our concerns about the need to eliminate cross-border terrorism,” said Krishna in his remarks at the release of India’s National Security Annual Review 2010.

“Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Prime Minister of Pakistan had a wide-ranging conversation when they met in Mohali to witness the cricket match between India and Pakistan. We won the match despite our traditions of being gracious hosts. The meeting of the two leaders once again reaffirmed our intention to take forward the process of dialogue through which we can resolve outstanding issues,” he added.

Krishna further said the meeting between the Home Secretary of India and the Interior Secretary of Pakistan last month ended on a positive note.

“As you would be aware, the Home Secretary of India and the Interior Secretary of Pakistan met last month and had a very positive round of discussions. The Commerce Secretaries of the two countries will meet this month in Islamabad. There will be a series of other meetings, leading to the meetings of Foreign Secretaries, and Foreign Ministers of the two countries,” said Krishna.

“As the Prime Minister said recently, the aim of this process is normalization of relations with Pakistan. Hopefully, this normalization will take into account India’s vital concerns. On our part, we shall be always ready to address Pakistan’s concerns as long as the mechanism is dialogue,” he added.

Talking about the Sino-India relations, Krishna said: “China is our largest neighbour and we have sought to structure our relationship with that country based on the principles of mutual sensitivity to each other’s concerns and the need to peacefully resolve outstanding issues through painstaking negotiations.

“This is a path that we have pursued with careful deliberation, conscious always of the need to defend our security interests and to carefully monitor Chinese activities in our neighbourhood,” he added.

The External Affairs Minister further said Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had a very productive, warm and friendly meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the margins of BRICS Summit at Sanya.

“Among the understandings reached is an agreement in principle on establishing a working mechanism for consultation and coordination on border affairs. This will handle important border affairs relating to maintaining peace and tranquility. We would hope that this mechanism would allow the two countries to take their relationship in a positive direction,” said Krishna.

“India is engaged closely with and in global and regional cooperation structures, such as ASEAN, ARF, IBSA, G-20, SCO and EU. Last week’s Summit of the BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -confirmed that these emerging countries have almost the same views on major issues that confront the world. Whether it is the question of establishing a more equitable and a fair world, or coordination of macroeconomic policies, BRICS has emerged as a major voice in the world,” he added. (ANI)