Addu: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza
Gilani on the sidelines of the SAARC summit here tomorrow when
they are expected to review progress in bilateral ties against
the backdrop of some positive developments witnessed lately.
The two leaders will meet tomorrow morning ahead of the
inauguration of the two-day summit of the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation in the Addu atoll
islands.
The meeting between Singh and Gilani comes after they met
in March in Mohali on the margins of the Indo-Pak World Cup
semi-final tie.
The rendezvous takes place in the backdrop of some recent
positive developments witnessed in bilateral relations like
Pakistan`s decision to grant the Most Favoured Nation (MFN)
trade status to India and the release of an Indian helicopter
that had strayed into Pakistani territory.
Earlier, there was speculation that the Singh-Gilani
meeting would take place on Friday.
The Foreign Secretaries of the two countries who are
already in Maldives met yesterday to discuss bilateral issues
and matters relating to the meeting between the Prime
Ministers.
Foreign Secretaries Ranjan Mathai and Salman Bashir
expressed satisfaction on the engagement process and agreed
that "stable, normal and predictable" ties were in their
interest as well as the region`s.
Singh and Gilani had held a bilateral meeting on the
sidelines of the last SAARC summit in Thimphu in 2010.
PTI
