By Xinhua,
Colombo : Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have agreed to keep furthering the dialogue between the two countries despite recent problems in their relations, a senior Indian official said here Saturday.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told reporters that Singh and Gilani held a one-to-one closed door talks on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit which kicked off on Saturday.
“Both prime ministers said we need to overcome problems and move forward,” Menon said.
“So the two prime ministers naturally reviewed where we are in the process of normalizing and improving India-Pakistan relations,” the Indian foreign secretary emphasized.
The two discussed last month’s bomb attack at the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, where some 60 people had been killed.
“Prime Minister Gilani said he would conduct an independent investigation,” Menon said, referring to the incident where the Indians suspect a Pakistani hand.
The two leaders had agreed that the ceasefire is possibly most important and that it must be maintained in future, Menon said.
The two-day SAARC summit opened Saturday morning with the participation of eight countries consisting of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The organization was established in December 1985 with the aim of promoting economic and trade cooperation in the region.