Out to reduce trust deficit,Singh giftwraps Alphonsos for Gilani

“The box will go with a personal message from the Prime Minister,” said a PMO official. This,he said,was to reciprocate a gesture by Gilani earlier this month when he personally wrote to Singh,thanking him for the great hospitality extended to the Pakistani delegation at the SAARC Summit in Thimphu.

Gilani’s letter hailed Singh for his bold decision to hold official-level talks between both nations and hoped that they would continue in order to build the trust quotient between the two neighbours.

They had agreed in Bhutan that trust deficit was the core reason for the two nations not making progress on the composite dialogue and that efforts must be made to bridge the gap.

“We agreed that trust deficit is a major problem blocking progress in the direction of going forward and that it should be our common endeavour to reduce the trust deficit,” Singh told reporters today,adding that his “firm belief” was that India cannot realise its full potential unless it had the “best possible relations” with its neighbours.

Home Minister P Chidambaram is going to Islamabad later this week for the SAARC Interior Ministers’ meeting which will set the tone for External Affairs Minister S M Krishna’s meeting with his Pakistani counterpart in Islamabad on July 15.

Reports from Pakistan earlier this month said that Gilani too planned mango diplomacy by gifting boxes to leaders including Singh and those from other SAARC countries. His gift of mangoes is expected to be dispatched this month-end.