India, Pakistan discuss agenda for July 15 talks
By IANSSunday, May 30, 2010
NEW DELHI - Ahead of the July 15 meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met Pakistan’s High Commissioner Shahid Malik a week ago and discussed the agenda for the forthcoming talks.
Rao met Malik May 24 and discussed the contours of the talks between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad, said reliable sources here Sunday.
The meeting took place at the request of the Pakistan High Commission, the sources added.
Rao will be travelling to Islamabad a day or two before Home Minister P. Chidambaram goes there for the meeting of home ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries scheduled for June 26.
Rao will meet her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir and firm up the agenda for the July 15 meeting between Krishna and Qureshi, the first structured meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries after the Nov 26, 2008 attacks in Mumbai.
After their meeting in Thimphu April 29, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani asked their foreign ministers and foreign secretaries to meet and work out the modalities of restoring trust and confidence in bilateral ties.
