Germany's Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in a telephone call to Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri on Saturday welcomed the Pakistan-India joint statement to resume composite dialogue between the two countries next month, a Foreign Office statement said.
The German Foreign Minister also hailed the conclusion of the agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) at the South Asian Summit, which brought leaders of the two countries to the negotiation table. Fischer expressed the hope that it would lead to a solution of all outstanding occupied Jammu and Kashmir and result in a permanent normalisation of relations between Pakistan and India.
Foreign Minister Kasuri expressed his appreciation for the interest shown by Germany in the resumption of a dialogue process between Pakistan and India.
Earlier, the Foreign Minister of US, UK, China and Japan and the EU Foreign Policy chief telephoned Foreign Minister Kasuri to convey their congratulations to the government and leadership of Pakistan on the agreement with India to enter into a composite dialogue to address all outstanding issues including the issue of occupied Jammu and Kashmir as well as on the success of the Saarc summit with particular reference to the signing of the Safta agreement.