India, Pakistan bilateral 'very good”: Nirupama Rao

Thimphu, Bhutan: The prime ministers of India and Pakistan met for over an hour on a one-on-one basis before being joined by their respective foreign ministers and secretaries. Both the leaders, according to Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, had "very good talks", and also agreed that relations between the two countries should be normalized.

This was a first meet for the two leaders in nine months, apart from a casual encounter this month in Washington in the course of the American-sponsored nuclear summit.

The Indian foreign secretary's presentation was shorn of all ''nomenclatures' normally used by both sides to describe the success or failure of their respective positions.

According to Rao, both sides have agreed that all ''issues of concern'' would be taken up for consideration by both sides and that the foreign ministers and secretaries of both sides would now make the effort to set up early meets. The talks would be conducted at these levels for the time being.

Typically, for both sides, in a classic case of one-upmanship, or even lack of trust in each other, the Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, insisted on holding his own briefing even as the Indian foreign secretary was conducting hers, which did not allow media to cover both sides at the same time. Now reports will have to be pieced together.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh with other Head of State and Government of SAARC Countries, at the inaugural session of the 16th SAARC Summit, at Thimphu, in Bhutan