Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan has said that Pakistan and India have reached an understanding on pre-notification of test firing of missiles by their countries. Answering a question at his news conference on Thursday, Khan said an agreement on the understanding was being prepared and the Foreign Ministers, when they meet here between October 3 and 5, would sign it next.
The outlines of the MoU, it is understood, were discussed between the Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan and India when they met here to review the progress made under the second phase of Composite Dialogue and considered recommendations on its future course.
The question was discussed between the Defence Secretaries of the two countries when they met sometime ago to consider the confidence building measures in their sphere.
Refusing to answer a barrage of further questions, Riaz Muhammad Khan said that the journalists should wait for a joint statement to be issued at the end of Secretary-level meeting on Friday.
He also confirmed that President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be meeting at New York before the opening of the General Assembly of the United Nations later this month.
The meeting of the Foreign Ministers, he added, was originally proposed for September but later it was postponed at the suggestion of Pakistan that it should be held after the mini-summit between their leaders at New York, so the Ministers could deliberate the issue in the light of summit discussions.
Avoiding detailed questions on the agenda of the opening meeting of the Foreign Secretaries, he however, confirmed that Kashmir was one of the subjects that came up for discussion on Thursday.
He also declined to answer a question if he had found any flexibility in the attitude of the guest delegation on Kashmir but said that they were talking to each other on a number of problems that had be-devilled their relationship.
The resolution of old problems, Riaz Muhammad Khan said required time. He replied another questioner that he personally felt that there had been some "positive moves" in the Composite Dialogue on some issues and the mediamen should await the joint statement that was on anvil.
"It will tell all", the Foreign Secretary said.
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