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United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday night described as a 'step in the right direction' Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's recent speech denouncing terrorism and banning a few militant outfits operating in the country but said he has to build on that.
"I have been talking to both sides (India and Pakistan) about the need to de-escalate (tensions) and I have been very pleased with the statement made by President Musharraf. I think it is a step in the right direction and we need to build on that," he told state-run PTV on his arrival in Islamabad for a two-day visit.
"I hope that would also lead to defusing the tensions," Annan said.
On the reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan, Annan said a good start had been made in the just-concluded Tokyo conference with the participation of most of the countries of the world.
Annan, who was scheduled to travel to Kabul on January 25 on the next leg of his visit to the region, hoped that both the bilateral and common efforts being made to rebuild Afghanistan would fit into the plan as approved by the interim administration of the war-ravaged country.
During his stay in Islamabad, Annan is scheduled to hold talks with Musharraf on the current Indo-Pak standoff and the reconstruction programme being undertaken in Afghanistan.
He was received at the airport by Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar on his arrival from Tokyo where he attended the Afghan reconstruction conference.
Annan was in Islamabad late last year on a tour when he had ruled out implementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir without India's consent.
Pakistan is making efforts at both the government level as well as through the newly-formed Kashmir Committee to impress upon Annan to take a more active role in resolving the Kashmir imbroglio.
UN officials in Islamabad said on Wednesday that Annan wanted to visit India during the course of his current trip to the region but the visit could not be fitted in due to pre-occupation of Indian leaders.
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