Washington: The US expressed hoped that the
SAARC summit in Maldives will further help in advancing the
relationship and environment in the region, as reflected by
the Istanbul conference and Pakistan's decision to grant most
favoured nation status to India.
"We very much hope that the improved atmosphere going
into this meeting will carry over into the meeting itself,"
State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland told reporters.
"We have progress between India and Pakistan heading
towards most favored nation status," she said referring to the
recent decision in this regard by the Pakistani Cabinet.
"We had just the Istanbul round of meetings where all of
the neighbours of Afghanistan supported its sovereignty,
territorial integrity, security, and pledged to work together
to improve economic relations," she said.
"So we are hoping that SAARC can make some further
advances along those positive lines," Nuland said in response
to a question.
The Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central
Asia, Robert Blake, would represent the US at the SAARC
summit.
The United States has observer's status at the SAARC.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, November 09, 2011, 11:19