The US has maintained that there has been no change in its policy on Kashmir, which it considers is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and said the two should now work to encourage cross-border trade.
"There has not been any change in the long-held US policy that with respect to relations between India and Pakistan, and particularly with respect to issues regarding Kashmir, that it is for India, Pakistan to set the pace, the scope and really the nature of those conversations and that process," Assistant US Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal said.
"The US supports any improvements in the overall relationship, and we have seen important overtures by both countries towards dialogue. We welcomed the fact that (Pak) Prime Minister (Nawaz) Sharif and (Indian) Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh had a meeting in New York last fall, and we welcome all dialogue and all improvements in that relationship," she said.
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Trade is a good place to start this normalisation, she said.
"Frankly, let me say that a good place to start is on the trade front because it's a win-win for both countries. I think cross-border trade right now between India and Pakistan is somewhere in the range of USD 2 1/2 billion.
"But both sides have seen the potential for that to grow to 10 billion (dollars) easily. And that requires both sides to really come together around these sets of issues," Biswal said.
So anything that will encourage cross-border trade will benefit both countries and really will benefit the entire region and will unleash tremendous economic potential. Trade and energy are areas where we think that there is tremendous potential, and we'd love to see more progress, she said in response to a question.
