Pakistan committed to better relations with India: Zardari

Asserting that Pakistan is committed to better relations with India, President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday expressed hope that the search for peaceful resolutions to all disputes through sustained and productive dialogue will bear fruit.

Zardari made the remarks in a message issued on the occasion of a seminar to be organised by the South Asian Free Media Association in Lahore and Amritsar on August 13.

The democratic government and the people of Pakistan "wish to see peace and cooperation flourish in the subcontinent", he said.

India and Pakistan need durable peace and security to focus on the social and economic development of their people, Zardari said.

"On this occasion, I wish to express my full support to the endeavours of SAFMA to bring the people of the two countries closer together and help build bridges of understanding, cooperation and trust," he added.

Zardari said he hoped that the endeavours of SAFMA will encourage "bold steps to make South Asia an economic powerhouse that will benefit" over one billion people.

He further said he hoped SAFMA's efforts would bring the people of the two countries closer together and make them the "building blocks of the architecture of durable peace and cooperation in the region".

Besides organising the seminars simultaneously in Lahore and Amritsar on the theme "In pursuit of shared destiny in the subcontinent", SAFMA has organised the exchange of delegations and a candlelight vigil on both sides of the Wagah border on the eve of the Independence Days of India and Pakistan.

Zardari recently invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan in November to boost the peace process between the two countries.

India and Pakistan resumed their bilateral dialogue last year after a gap of over two years in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.