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G-8 asks India, Pak to begin dialogue

The G-8 today called on India and Pakistan to resume their stalled dialogue at the earliest in the spirit of the Lahore declaration and to refrain from taking any step that could aggravate tension in the sub-continent.

A joint communique issued at the end of the two-day meet of G-8 foreign ministers in Miyazaki, Japan, to prepare a blueprint for their heads of government summit later this month also asked New Delhi and Islamabad to join international efforts to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime. The G-8 nations are Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Russia, the US and the United Kingdom.

"We are deeply concerned at the level of tension between India and Pakistan. We call on both countries to refrain from any action which would aggravate the situation and to resume dialogue as soon as possible in the spirit of Lahore," it said.

Asking New Delhi and Islamabad to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime, including continuation of their unilateral undertakings not to resume nuclear testing, the ministers said both the countries should sign and ratify the CTBT and take further steps to meet non-proliferation goals.

The G-8 ministers unveiled an action plan to prevent conflicts across the globe and ensure international peace and security while underlining their commitments to deal with disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, UN reforms, international organised crime, terrorism, the environment and regional security issues.

The Miyazaki action plan commits the G-8 nations to comprehensively deal with a "full spectrum" of political, economic and social problems in states or areas vulnerable to conflict, currently in crisis, or coping with the aftermath of strife.

The plan features five key measures -- tightening controls on the diamond trade to stem arms purchases in war-torn African countries such as Sierra Leone, pressing countries to stop recruiting children as soldiers, strengthening regulations on exports of small firearms to strife-torn areas, promoting the eradication of poverty and helping nations establish and train civilian police.

The action plan and the communique will serve as the blueprint for political and security talks at the July 21-23 Okinawa summit of the G8 leaders.

The communique said the foreign ministers stressed the need to further strengthen the international non-proliferation regime, and remained committed to universal application and full implementation of CTBT and NPT.

They agreed on the immediate commencement of negotiations on Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty and make utmost efforts to conclude the negotiations on a protocol that will strengthen the biological weapons convention.

On terrorism, they renewed their commitment to fighting the menace and ensuring that no havens was given to terrorists, no support granted and no criminal act tolerated.

The foreign ministers reaffirmed their pledge to reform, strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of the UN system, including the security council.

PTI

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