India, Pakistan Foreign Secretaries meet ahead of SAARC summit

Ahead of the bilateral meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, the foreign secretaries of the two countries met here today and discussed issues of mutual interest.

Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai met his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir here as officials from the SAARC group of nations began arriving for the summit that begins on Thursday, officials told PTI.

However, details of the specific issues discussed during the meeting between Mathai and Bashir were not immediately available.

The meeting came days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani's expected bilateral on the sidelines of the SAARC summit.

Maldivian Foreign Secretary Ahmed Naseer also told reporters that the Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries had met in Gan but declined to comment on the specifics.

Officials from the SAARC nations also met today to discuss the declaration that will come out of the two-day summit that will see heads of governments of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka hold talks.

Singh and Gilani had met in Bhutan during the previous SAARC summit last year.

They last met in Mohali in March on the sidelines of the World Cup semi-finals between the two countries.