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LIVE – Heart of Asia summit concludes, anti-terror resolution adopted
Heart of Asia Summit Day 2: Over 40 nations to plan fight against terrorism and boost inter regional connectivity, Pakistan's Sartaz Aziz has indicated openness for talks.
Amritsar, Dec 4: Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the annual ‘Heart of Asia’ summit commenced on December 3 with an aim to fight terrorism together and boost the inter regional connectivity. The conference in Amritsar entered the second day today. Senior officials of 14 countries, including India, China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan with representatives of 17 supporting nations discussed measures on a vast range of issues on Saturday.
Pakistan’ s Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz who was scheduled to arrive on Sunday, arrived on Saturday, leading the Pakistani delegation to the Heart of Asia conference. Aziz and the delegation were received at the Amritsar airport by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit. However, Aziz in his statement to Indian Express said that Pakistan is ready for a one to one dialogues with India but will refrain from raising Kashmir issue in the ongoing Heart of Asia summit. Sartaz Aziz said, “I am here (in India)to attend the Heart of Asia summit and by doing this we have showed commitment to the importance of this summit and for the security and peace of Afghanistan.”
The conference of major regional and global powers began to explore ways to deal with terror threat of terrorism in the region. Sartaz Aziz on Sunday met Afghanistan President Dr. Ashraf Ghani on the sidelines of the ongoing Heart of Asia. On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani met at Golden temple on the eve of the Heart of Asia Conference, in Amritsar.P M Modi also served ‘langar’ at the Golden Temple. After visiting the Golden Temple, both the leaders attended the dinner at a heritage village, Sadda Pind, on the Amritsar-Attari road.
It was also reported that Aziz sent a bouquet to ailing External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and extended his sincere good wishes for her full and speedy recovery. During last year’s Heart of Asia Summit in Islamabad, both nations India and Pakistan had agreed to start ‘Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue’ that was to cover all outstanding issues but couldn’t happen due to the Pathankot terror attack in January.
Live Updates
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LIVE – Heart of Asia summit: The conference has been concluded in Amritsar. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his Afghan counterpart Hekmat Karzai announced the adoption of anti-terror resolution by the 6th ministerial meet.
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LIVE – Heart of Asia summit: The Finance Minister further added saying Afghanistan has faced gruesome violence for decades which has grown in both intensity and scope. He further added that neighbours of Afghan have particular responsibility in this regard. “Taliban, LeT, JeM etc are all terror organisations and should be treated as such”, Jaitley said.
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LIVE – Heart of Asia summit: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said, “Achieved a milestone by signing trilateral transit and transport agreement among India, Iran and Afghan (Chabahar Port). He said benefits to Afghan will accrue if Afghan trucks could carry Indian products to markets in Afghan,Central Asia&beyond & indeed visa-versa. He further added that India is willing to receive Afghan trucks on its territory, at Attari and will be happy to create necessary facilities
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LIVE – Heart of Asia summit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday agreed to strengthen India-Afghan bilateral trade agreement by adding one billion US dollar for bilateral cooperation. The bilateral talks between leaders of both the nation were held at Amritsar in the backdrop of Heart of Asia (HoA) summit where the two leaders were present.
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Focus is on modern, state of the art infrastructure including through China Pak Eco Corridor-Pak PM's advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz
— ANI (@ANI_news) December 4, 2016
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LIVE – Heart of Asia summit: Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said Pakistan is building its national rail and energy transmission network to meet with growing regional transport needs. He said its now time to focus is on modern, state of the art infrastructure including through China Pakistan Eco Corridor
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LIVE – Heart of Asia summit: The Heart of Asia Summit was launched in 2011 with the aim to boost economic ties and security cooperation.In his address today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored the need to wipe out the terror network, saying it was endangering the entire region. Fourteen nations are participating in the summit, which was inaugurated by PM Modi and Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani.
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LIVE – Heart of Asia summit: As per reports by Dunya news, as per High Commissioner Abdul Basit, Prime Minister Modi expressed well wishes for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He further said that Adviser Sartaj Aziz during the meeting reiterated Pakistan’s commitment for peace and stability in Afghanistan and expressed the support for every effort to be made for the purpose.
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LIVE – Heart of Asia summit: Countries that are participating in the Heart of Asia are Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates. These countries are part of the Heart of Asia initiative launched in 2011 for encouraging economic and security cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbours for dealing with the common problems of terrorism, extremism and poverty.
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LIVE – Heart of Asia summit: At the inaugural function of the 6th ministerial ‘Heart of Asia conference-Istanbul Process on Afghanistan’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an oblique reference to Pakistan urged action against those who support and finance terror. Modi said, “We must demonstrate strong collective will to defeat terror networks. Support for peace alone is not enough. It must be backed by resolute action”.
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