Krishna to talk to his Pakistani counterpart Friday
By IANSThursday, May 6, 2010
NEW DELHI - Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Thursday said he will be talking with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Friday to take forward the new engagement between the two South Asian neighbours.
“Indeed, I am talking to my counterpart in Pakistan tomorrow. It was agreed between us that once parliament adjourned, we would be in touch with each other,” he said in the Rajya Sabha. They will discuss dates for the visit of Qureshi, which is likely to take place later this month.
Referring to the meeting of the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers in Bhutan, Krishna said: “If I may put it this way, a transformation has come about in our relationship. The mood, the ambience and tone and tenor of prime minister of Pakistan was indeed encouraging.”
Krishna said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did raise the “core concern” of India, which is terrorism, with Pakistani Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, who assured that India’s concerns would be met adequately.
Krishna said the two prime ministers were apprised of “the “trust deficit” that existed in the relationship.
“In response to that, the two prime ministers have mandated the two foreign ministers to work out the modalities on how this trust deficit should be addressed,” Krishna said.
