Thursday, November 10, 2011

Gilani, Singh meet today

ADDU/LAHORE: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh will hold talks today (Thursday). The two leaders will meet before the inauguration of the 17th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in the Addu islands. While the leaders of the eight SAARC nations will hold summit talks, all eyes are on the Gilani-Singh meeting that comes in the backdrop of positive developments, including Pakistan’s decision to grant the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trade status to India and the quick release of an Indian helicopter that had strayed into Pakistani territory. The MFN status is also likely to come up during the talks between the two premiers and a clarity on the issue may emerge after some sort of flip-flop on the part of Islamabad in explaining the decision. The two prime ministers are also expected to review progress in bilateral ties. They last met in March when Gilani had accepted Dr Singh’s invitation to watch the India-Pakistan cricket World Cup semi-final in Mohali. Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir met on Tuesday to discuss bilateral issues and expressed satisfaction on the engagement process and agreed that “stable, normal and predictable” ties were in their interest as well as that of the region. agencies

 

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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