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UNESCO chief calls for strengthening Indo-Pak dialogue

UNESCO Director General Federico Mayor has appealed to India and Pakistan to resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, through negotiations and spend their meagre resources on improving the lot of their peoples.

"India and Pakistan must realise that they can win each other not through atomic bombs, but only through peace and dialogue," Mayor said.

He was addressing the five-day Second International Congress on technical and vocational education, organised by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation in collaboration with the South Korean government.

Hailing Atal Bihari Vajpayee's bus journey to Pakistan in February, he said frequent interaction between the political leadership of the two countries would lessen tension in the region.

"I salute and welcome the progress made by the two countries in improving bilateral relations last year,'' he added.

The UNESCO chief was confident that India and Pakistan could find a mutually acceptable solution to the Kashmir issue. "Ten years back, who could have imagined that apartheid would end in South Africa or the Palestinians and Israelis would sit together to resolve their differences? So one must keep trying instead of indulging in destruction," he said.

UNI

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