PAKISTAN-INDIA Pakistani and Indian prime ministers to meet on sidelines of SCO Summit in Ufa

Record ID: 147918

  • Title: PAKISTAN-INDIA Pakistani and Indian prime ministers to meet on sidelines of SCO Summit in Ufa
  • Date: 9th July 2015
  • Summary: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (JULY 9, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC ON ROAD LEADING TO FOREIGN MINISTRY EXTERIOR OF FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING EMBLEMS OF PAKISTAN FOREIGN MINISTRY JOURNALISTS WEEKLY FOREIGN MINISTRY BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAKISTAN FOREIGN OFFICE SPOKESMAN, QAZI KHALILULLAH, SAYING: "I can confirm that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Prime Mi
  • Embargoed: 24th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACDB5U8ZLY47I0CPYF66XV4TXY
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah on Thursday (July 9) confirmed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Russian city of Ufa during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit meeting.
    "I can confirm that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting tomorrow for a bilateral meeting in Ufa. This meeting is taking place on the sidelines of the SCO meeting. As to the second part of your question, when the leaders meet, they - that is Pakistan and India leaders meet - they discuss all issues of importance," Khalilullah told a weekly briefing in Islamabad.
    The confirmation came after a spate of speculations in the media about a possible meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the SCO Summit.
    Khalilullah said the much-anticipated meeting could likely set off an improvement in bilateral ties.
    "As you know, when leaders meet, it has a very positive effect on bilateral relations. The meeting that is to be held between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Prime minister Modi tomorrow, will have a three-tiered effect. One, on the bilateral relations, two, on the region, and three on the international level," he said.
    "You know that on the international level, there is great interest in relations between India and Pakistan. Like us, the international community also wants that relations between Pakistan and India improve so that the people of the region can reap the benefits from it. They also want that disputes and issues between India and Pakistan be resolved through talks," he added.
    The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) groups China, Russia and the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, while India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Mongolia are observers.
    Nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India are expected to start the process of joining the security bloc led by China and Russia at the summit that will be held in Russia.
    Since Sharif visited India in May last year to attend Modi's swearing-in, the two leaders have not met barring an "informal'' chat during the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in November.
    The meeting will also likely be the occasion for the leaders to discuss the case of alleged Mumbai terror mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
    Lakhvi, a commander in an anti-India terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, who India says was a central planner in the November 2008 attack on Mumbai which claimed over 160 lives, was released on bail by a Pakistani court in April this year.
    At a meeting of the U.N. Sanctions Committee, India had sought action against Pakistan for release of Lakhvi in the Mumbai case saying it was in violation of UN resolution 1267.
    However, China blocked the move on the ground that the information provided by New Delhi was not sufficient.
    Modi is also expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the SCO Summit, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani during his two-day visit to Russia.
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