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Meeting with Manmohan in US: Musharraf hopes for positive signs

By Shaukat Piracha

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf left for the United States on Sunday where he will address the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, hold a much-awaited “wholesome meeting” with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and meet United States President George W Bush as well as many other world leaders.

“I look forward to a wholesome meeting with Prime Minister Singh, dealing with all issues including Kashmir. I look forward to positive indications for progress,” President Musharraf told reporters at Chaklala airbase before his departure. The meeting between President Musharraf and Prime Minister Singh was rescheduled from September 22 to September 24. The foreign ministers of the two countries will be at the meeting.

President Musharraf said he would meet UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and many heads of state. He said he would address the UN General Assembly on September 22 in which he would highlight Pakistan’s position on regional and international issues, including the situation in South Asia, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East. He would also address security and disarmament issues, terrorism and economic and development issues.

“First, I will address the United Nations General Assembly. Though that is the main purpose of the visit, I want to project a positive image of Pakistan in the US, correct misperceptions and encourage investment in Pakistan,” Musharraf said

Sources said President Musharraf was expected to address an international conference on poverty alleviation being arranged by Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva on September 20. “Musharraf’s meeting with the Brazilian president at the conference will serve Pakistan’s aims to foster trade and economic relations with South American countries,” sources said. President Musharraf will address the conference, which will be attended by more than 55 heads of state. On September 22, the president will have a breakfast meeting with President Bush in New York. The two leaders will review bilateral relations and exchange views on how to broaden and strengthen their relationship. They will discuss the regional situation, particularly the Pakistan-India dialogue process and the upcoming elections in Afghanistan.

In the afternoon of September 22, the president will travel to Washington where he will attend the formal launching of the Congressional Pakistan Caucus (CPC). President Musharraf’s programme in New York includes a dinner meeting with business and investment leaders, an address to the Council of Foreign Relations-Asia Society and a number of media engagements. He will be chief guest at the gala dinner co-hosted by the Pakistan National Commission for Human Development and the UN Development Programme.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri will also meet his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) platform. “The council of foreign ministers of the SAARC is likely to have a day long session to discuss various issue relating to SAARC. They will review progress made during the last council of ministers meeting in Islamabad and deliberate upon the agenda of the next meeting to be held in Dhaka early next January,” sources said.

President Musharraf will visit the Netherlands and Italy on the second leg of his two-week visit. He said he would exchange views on international issues and bilateral relations, particularly boosting economic and trade ties, with the leaders of the two countries.

The president was seen off at PAF Base Chaklala by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Aziz Khan, Vice Chief of Army Staff General Muhammad Yousaf Khan, Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar, ambassadors of the US, Italy and the Netherlands and other senior government and military officials. He was accompanied by his wife, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, ministers of state for Foreign Affairs and Tourism and senior government officials.

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