By IANS
New Delhi : External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukerjee will meet his Pakistani counterpart Inam-ul Haq for bilateral talks on the sidelines of a SAARC ministerial meeting later this week that is likely to add some spark to the languishing peace process between the two countries.
Haq will arrive here Thursday to attend the 29th session of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Council of Ministers that begins Friday.
“All bilateral issues will be discussed,” Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters Tuesday in response to a question.
There will be bilateral meetings between the external affairs minister and each of his counterparts, Menon said.
All SAARC ministers will be calling on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday.
This will be the first bilateral meeting between Mukherjee and the acting foreign minister of Pakistan since Haq was named to the post recently.
The long-pending demand for a direct flight between New Delhi and Islamabad, which is part of the larger SAARC project of linking capitals of the region, will also figure in the discussions. New Delhi is linked to all the capitals of the SAARC countries except those of Pakistan and the Maldives.
A formal meeting between the civil aviation secretaries of the two countries will be held early next year to discuss the proposed direct flight. Under the present arrangement, designated national carriers, which are supposed to operationalise the direct flight, have cited capacity constraints, Menon replied when asked what was holding up the proposal.
The peace process between India and Pakistan has gone into slow mode after the neighbouring country plunged into prolonged turmoil sparked by the sacking of then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhary in March. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency in his country Nov 3, citing escalating terrorist activities as one of the key reasons for doing so.
India and Pakistan have held the fourth round of composite dialogue that discusses a host of issues, including disputes over Kashmir and the Siachen glacier. The two countries are still to announce dates for a review of the fourth round that takes place at the level of foreign secretaries and followed by a meeting between foreign ministers.
Ahead of the SAARC ministerial meeting, Menon underlined that the grouping has moved from a declaratory phase to action with some key projects like that of telemedicine and a South Asian University moving closer to fruition.
Concrete projects to enhance physical and emotional connectivity among citizens of the member countries are being given shape and institutional frameworks are being devised to make them operational, Menon said while stressing on involving more people, specially the youth, to create an interconnected South Asia.
It’s a concrete practical agenda, Menon said, adding that the telemedicine project is ready for a take-off with each country having already identified hospitals to implement it.
The ministerial meeting will review ways to boost economic, social and cultural cooperation among the SAARC countries in the context of the Delhi Declaration adopted at the 14th SAARC Summit here. The ratification of agreements, poverty alleviation, social charter and issues of visa exemptions will also be discussed.
The foreign secretaries of the SAARC countries will hold two-day talks beginning Wednesday to firm up the agenda for the ministerial meeting.
The programming committee of senior officials identified broad themes for discussion during the two-day meet that ended Tuesday.
The Council of Ministers is also likely to decide on the next secretary general of SAARC. India is expected to nominate its ambassador to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Sheel Kant Sharma for the post.