Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend Islamabad Summit of South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), said Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bombawale, here on Monday. "Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visit Pakistan to attend SAARC summit in November," he said speaking at an interactive session on Pakistan-India relations under the aegis of Karachi Council on Foreign Relations (KCFR) at a hotel here.
He said that both countries needed to build confidence in order to pave way to resolve the core issues between them. "India and Pakistan have big markets to trade up to US dollars 20 billion," he said adding that direct bilateral trade between the two countries was only about US $2.3 billion.
He said India wants peaceful, prosperous and stable Pakistan. He laid emphasis on people-to- people contact between two neighbouring countries. "We have to begin with building trust and confidence before the resumption of formal talks between India and Pakistan," he urged.
Sharing the numbers of trade volume between China and India he said despite border issues, the India-China trade volume amounted US $75 billion. Despite political odds, Gautam said, China had emerged as largest trade partner of India. He said India began issuing multiple term visas to Pakistani businessmen. "In 2015, India had issued some 90000 visas to Pakistanis that was 90 per cent of the total applications received at the High Commission," he said.
To a question he claimed Jammu and Kashmir was an internal issue of India hence Pakistan should focus on its domestic issues rather than interfering into Indian matters. Chairman KCFA Admiral Shahid Karimullah, in his remarks, said both countries should find a way forward to sort out their problem. Pakistan and India must discuss their issues and dialogue process should not be stopped," he urged. General Secretary KCFR Ahsan Mukhtar Zubairi and others also spoke.