NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for Kathmandu tomorrow to participate in the 18th Summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) being held in Nepal.
All eyes are focussed on a likely meeting between Mr Modi with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. The possibility of Modi-Sharif meeting on the sidelines of the SAARC gained currency yesterday as official spokespersons of foreign offices of India and Pakistan did not rule out the likelihood of such a scenario.
If both leaders meet, this would be their second interaction exactly after six months as Mr Sharif had visited India to attend the swearing-in of Mr Modi.
External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin repeatedly said yesterday that India wants peaceful and cooperative ties with Pakistan and to achieve this he stressed on the “meaningful dialogue” between the two countries. On the other hand, Pakistan Foreign Ministry official said in Islamabad that, “On the sidelines of the event, the Prime Minister will meet other leaders of SAARC countries to discuss issues of bilateral and regional interest.” A meeting between Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and her Pakistan counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary at the SAARC Standing Committee of Foreign Secretaries also took place yesterday, giving traction to the speculation regarding the Modi-Sharif meeting.
For Mr Modi, this would be the 4th Summit meeting in a row that he will be attending this month alone. Earlier, he participated in the ASEAN and the East Asian Summits in Myanmar and the G20 summit in Australia during his ten-day foreign tour.
The Council of Ministers of the SAARC are meeting today in Kathmandu.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would also attend the same.
The SAARC Summit will begin on November 26 with all the leaders making their policy statements. The Indian Prime Minister will layout his vision of what he sees about the regional cooperation in South Asia and India’s to harnessing the development potential as a whole. On November 27, the leaders will move to Dhulikhel for Retreat session and the Kathmandu declaration will be issued the same evening.
“Our focus during the 18th SAARC Summit is on enhancement of connectivity and people-to-people contact. There are series of recommendations for agreements that have been made in the areas of transport and electricity,” Mr Akbaruddin said. “India is ready to sign these agreements and there should be consensus in the SAARC,” he said.
During bilateral meeting with Nepalese counterpart, the Prime Minister is expected to engage in a substantive discussions to cover a number of areas of development assistance, defence and security, energy connectivity and tourism. (AGENCIES)
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