Kathmandu, 28 September: With an effort of ending the ongoing India-Pakistan tensions and activating the derailed South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali had hosted an informal meeting of the SAARC member countries in New York on Thursday, at the sideline of the ongoing UN General Assembly, however, the foreign minister of India and Pakistan avoided meeting with each other.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Mehmood Qureshi arrived at the meeting venue a few minutes after Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar left the meeting. Nepal in its capacity as current SAARC chair had hosted the informal meeting.
Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali said that although they didn’t meet each other both India and Pakistani minister stressed the need for strengthening SAARC and regional cooperation.
“I think it was just a coincidence. Because I don’t think they decided to avoid each other,” said Gyawali, when asked about the issue.
Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankr did not speak to the media as he left the meeting early. But later, he tweeted stressing the need for bolstering regional cooperation. “Regionalism has taken root in every corner of the world. If we have lagged behind, it is because South Asia does not have normal trade and connectivity that other regions do,” he tweeted. Jaishankar also said that elimination of terrorism in the region is important for survival of the region.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi however said that he couldn’t sit and talk with India, as India was involved in ‘killings in Kashmir.’ While speaking at the meeting, Qureshi said that his country was ready to host the long overdue SAARC summit anytime soon. “Pakistan said that they are ready to host the next SAARC summit and even proposed a date. But we didn’t discuss the date because it was just an informal meeting,” Minister Gyawali said, reports state.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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