India suggests China-model talks to Pakistan

India on Thursday suggested to Pakistan that they follow the Sino-India model of negotiations a day after they failed to make a breakthrough in bilateral talks.

"We would like to place the Sino-India model before Pakistan," External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh said at a press conference on the occasion of six months in office of the United Progressive Alliance government.

"More economic interaction may lead to a satisfactory political outcome," he said.

Natwar Singh noted that bilateral trade between India and China, which are engaged in negotiations to find a solution to their boundary issue, was set to touch 12 billion US dollars this year, whereas India-Pakistan trade was just about 400 million US dollars, far below its potential, the Indo-Asian News Service reported.

He pointed out that India and China had not allowed the unresolved boundary issue to come in the way of improvement in relations in other fields.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who held talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh here Wednesday, had reiterated that progress on the Kashmir issue had to be in tandem with those on confidence-building measures that the two countries are currently discussing.

"It is good news that our Pakistani friends have agreed to talk not only Kashmir but also other issues," Natwar Singh said.