By IANS,
Thimphu : External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Monday said a bilateral meeting between the prime ministers of India and Pakistan can’t be ruled out on the sidelines of the SAARC summit here and stressed that all issues will be discussed if the two leaders meet.
“I am not ruling it out,” Krishna said when asked if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the SAARC summit to be held here April 28-29.
“Let’s wait and watch, how things are going to work out,” he said. “All bilateral issues between India and Pakistan will be discussed as and when the prime ministers meet,” he added.
Krishna, who arrived here Monday for the SAARC ministerial meeting, added that since heads of states and governments are going to be under the same roof for the next couple of days for the SAARC summit, a number of bilateral meetings could be held during the period.
Manmohan Singh is set to hold bilateral talks with the leaders of Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives on the sidelines of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit.
If the meeting between Manmohan Singh and Gilani takes place, it will be the first formal summit-level talks between the two leaders since they met at the Egyptian resort Sharm el-Sheikh in July last year.