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Summary Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh will hold talks today.
The two leaders will meet in the morning before the inauguration of the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in the Addu atoll islands.While the leaders of the eight SAARC nations will hold summit talks here, all eyes are on the Singh-Gilani meeting that comes in the backdrop of positive developments, including Pakistans decision to grant the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trade status to India and the quick release of an Indian helicopter that had strayed into Pakistani territory.The MFN status is also likely to come up during the talks between the two premiers and clarity on the issue may emerge after some sort of flip-flop on the part of Islamabad in explaining the decision. The two Prime Ministers are also expected to review progress in bilateral ties.They last met in March when Mr. Gilani had accepted Dr Singhs invitation to watch the India-Pakistan cricket World Cup semi-final in Mohali.They last held formal talks during the 2010 SAARC summit in Bhutan. The foreign secretaries of the two countries who are already in Maldives met yesterday to discuss bilateral issues and matters related to the prime ministerial meeting.Indian foreign secretary Mr. Ranjan Mathai and his Pakistani counterpart Mr Salman Bashir expressed satisfaction on the engagement process and agreed that “stable, normal and predictable” ties were in their interest as well as that of the region.
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