ISLAMABAD – Pakistan and Bhutan on Saturday expressed the resolve to further strengthen ties in all spheres, with a particular focus on trade and tourism.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Bhutanese counterpart Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley in around an hour-long exclusive and delegation level talks covered a whole range of bilateral issues besides regional situation. Prime Minister Thinley, who is on a three day visit to Pakistan on the invitation of Premier Gilani, noted the important role Pakistan was playing in the region. Gilani stressed the need to share information and good practices, by tapping into the huge potential of hydro power generation and natural disaster management. He hoped that the good-will between the governments of Pakistan and Bhutan would be translated into substantive economic, commercial, investment, educational and cultural links.
Thinley underlined the great potential of cooperation and progress of the SAARC countries and lauded Gilani’s contribution to engage India into a constructive dialogue. The two sides reaffirmed their resolve to further strengthen and deepen bilateral relations through closer interaction at government and people to people levels. Prime Minister Gilani proposed that the Pakistani parliamentarians should also visit Bhutan to study their development model, especially the model of ‘Gross National Happiness’, a model based on more holistic and natural development rather than on economic index. Gilani said the Thimpu spirit had worked wonders and he was personally grateful to the
Prime Minister of Bhutan for facilitating his talks with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Thimpu, where it was decided to resume the composite dialogue process. Prime Minister Thinley said the Indian prime minister personally told him that he was appreciative of Gilani’s reconciliatory and positive attitude towards Pak-India relations. He expressed the hope that the sincerity and the dialogue process between India and Pakistan would help resolve the contentious issues through peaceful means.
