The Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Salman Bashir and his Indian counterpart Shivshankar Menon on Thursday met in Colombo on the sidelines of the Saarc Standing Committee. According to a statement issued by foreign office here, the meeting was first of its kind after Mumbai incident and High Commissioner of Pakistan to India Shahid Malik was also present on the occasion.
The foreign office said that the two Foreign Secretaries exchanged views on broader issues of regional co-operation and agreed to continue their efforts to promote co-operation under the Saarc auspices. They affirmed the importance of promoting regional peace, stability and prosperity.
The Foreign Secretaries also discussed various aspects of bilateral relations. They agreed to keep the official channels of communication open. Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir underscored the importance that Pakistan attaches to preserving the gains made in the Composite Dialogue process. He reiterated the need to resume the process as soon as possible with the view to promoting substantive engagement on all issues including Kashmir, for establishing friendly and good neighbourly relations.-PR