Khar-Krishna meeting in July to discuss progress of resumed dialogue

Foreign ministers of India and Pakistan will review the progress made under the resumed dialogue process when Indian external affairs Minister S M Krishna travels to Islamabad next month to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar, Indian media said on Sunday.
Krishna is expected to visit Pakistan on July 17-18 to hold talks with Khar which will be preceded by a meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries, Indian official sources said here in New Delhi.
Khar had come New Delhi last year for the talks.
Ahead of the ministerial-level parleys, Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik termed the current atmosphere between the two countries as "satisfactory" and said "small dents" have also started appearing in the "trust-deficit".
He also stressed the need for both countries to seize this opportunity and take steps to make the peace process "irreversible".
Indo-Pak dialogue, which had stalled following the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008, resumed last year with both sides holding a series of meetings on the eight components under the 'Composite Dialogue' format, including terrorism, Siachen, Sir Creek, Trade and Kashmir.
The two countries have already had four segments, including terrorism, trade and water in the past few months with two more -on Siachen and Sir Creek- slated for this month as part of the second round of talks.
Asked about the issues to be discussed, the sources said both sides will discuss all issues of mutual concerns.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt