Statement by the Press Secretary/Director General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the India-Pakistan relations

Tokyo, 1st May, 2003

1.The Government of Japan welcomes that in the speech delivered in the city of Srinagar on April 18, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a friendly statement conducive to normalization of relations with Pakistan, and that, in response to this, Prime Minister Mir Zaffarullah Khan Jamali of Pakistan had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Vajpayee on April 28.

2. The Government of Japan hopes that the two Governments will further move ahead.