The US on Thursday appealed to India and Pakistan to resolve their differences for the benefit of regional trade, but made it clear that the issues between the two countries can only be settled bilaterally.

“What we hope is that at some point in the future — which I would like to see in the not too distant future — Pakistan and India can resolve their outstanding differences,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during an interaction with youths at the Government College University here.

“And why do I say that? Because I believe that trade between Pakistan and India could rival trade anywhere. I believe that if there were peace between Pakistan and India and the outstanding issues were resolved, Pakistan would take off like a rocket in terms of economic development,” she said.

Hillary, however, said that while the US encourages both countries to address their problems, only Pakistan and India can resolve such issues. She said Pakistan has the makings to become an economic “powerhouse” because of its strategic location but this would only become possible if it improved ties with India.

“If you had trade opening up to the north, east and west it would make a huge economic difference to your country and one of the major obstacles standing in the way is the distrust and the history between India and Pakistan, which blocks the kind of opportunities for investment that I think could make a huge difference,” she said.

Explaining the dynamics of the US’s ties with the two neighbours, she said: “We are friends with both Pakistan and India, we work with both. We have given far more aid over many years to try to help Pakistan’s development.”