Pak gives high priority to improves ties with India: Envoy

Asserting that it accords high priority for improvement of ties with India, Pakistan today said 'all branches' of its government have been given 'clear policy directives' to work towards it.

Pakistan also said normalisation of trade relations with India was a priority and said 'sky is the limit' for deeper economic cooperation between the two countries.

'The government of Pakistan and in particular the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is clear, categorical in according high priority to improvement of relations with India,' Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir said here.

He added this has been stated 'very explicitly' by Sharif not only prior to his party's win in the May 11 general elections 'but also in fact after that it has been translated into clear policy directives to all branches of the government of Pakistan to work to improving relations with India'.

Bashir, who was addressing a gathering at the PHD Chambers, also spoke about the need for security and stability in the region and also touched upon the desire to develop SAARC on the lines of the European Union.

'The logical course for the history to proceed is for these two countries to become good neighbours, friends and that is not only for the people of Pakistan and India but also forms a critical ingredient in realising the vision of a prosperous and peaceful South Asia,' Bashir said.