Islamabad, May 27: A meeting of Pakistan's federal ministeries has decided to respond positively to initiatives taken by India to improve relations between the two countries but underlined the need to move cautiously on all fronts, particularly with regard to the grant of the most favoured nation status to New Delhi. There was unanimity of views between officials of various ministers held here yesterday that Pakistan should respond positively to any reasonable suggestion by India on improvement of relations, a senior official who took part in the meeting, which was presided over by Pakistan foreign secretary Riaz Kokhar, said. "The purpose of the meeting was to take stock of the post-April 18 situation and to see where we stand now," local daily 'Dawn' quoted senior Pakistani foreign office officials as saying.


The meeting in which officials from foreign office, defence, commerce, trade, transport and interior officials took part decided to co-ordinate steps being taken by various ministries in the context of present India-Pak relations.

"Another important aspect of the meeting was to coordinate with relevant ministries to get their standpoints on certain issues," the official said.


It was underlined that Pakistan ought to move cautiously on all fronts, particularly on the grant of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India. New Delhi has already granted MFN status to Islamabad.
Bureau Report