Joint Statement Following Discussions With Prime Minister Bhutto of Pakistan.

PRESIDENT Nixon and Prime Minister Bhutto of Pakistan have held two cordial and wide-ranging working discussions during the Prime Minister's visit to Washington September 18-20. The meetings gave the President and the Prime Minister an opportunity to renew their personal friendship and to discuss matters of common interest to Pakistan and the United States. Both President Nixon and Prime Minister Bhutto reviewed and welcomed the progress made in the past eighteen months in enhancing peaceful relations throughout the world and in reducing tension between the major powers. The leaders pledged their continuing efforts to build a just and lasting peace, based on principles of national sovereignty and equality, respect for territorial integrity, and non-interference in the internal affairs of any state. They also reaffirmed the close ties of friendship that have long characterized relations between the United States and Pakistan. President Nixon assured Prime Minister Bhutto of strong U.S. support for Pakistan's independence and territorial integrity, which he considered a guiding principle of American foreign policy.

President Nixon took the opportunity to congratulate Prime Minister Bhutto on the progress Pakistan has made over the past twenty months. He noted the successes of the Prime Minister of Pakistan in establishing representative government under a democratic constitution recently adopted by the National Assembly, and in restoring the war-shattered economy of Pakistan, which has unfortunately received a serious set-back in the recent unprecedented floods.

Prime Minister Bhutto voiced his warm appreciation for the generous American response to Pakistan's severe flood losses. The two leaders discussed additional needs and ways in which the United States and the international community might be responsive. President Nixon pledged additional assistance and vigorous support for international relief efforts.

The two leaders also discussed Pakistan's long-term assistance needs. They reviewed the substantial assistance which the United States has extended to Pakistan. President Nixon noted the importance which the United States attaches to Pakistan's stable development and reviewed for the Prime Minister plans for future assistance.

Prime Minister Bhutto reviewed for the President the Simla Agreement of July 1972, and the New Delhi Agreement of August 28, 1973, calling for repatriation of prisoners of war and other stranded persons from the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. The President congratulated Prime Minister Bhutto on his statesmanship in reaching the agreements. President Nixon reiterated the United States' warm support for the process of reconciliation underway in South Asia, and expressed the United States' interest in expeditious implementation of the agreements and in the resolution of other outstanding issues in South Asia through peaceful means in accordance with internationally recognized principles.

There was also a discussion of international narcotics problems. President Nixon welcomed Prime Minister Bhutto's recent statement pledging efforts to control narcotics traffic and progressively to eliminate poppy cultivation. The President assured the Prime Minister of strong U.S. support for Pakistan's efforts.