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Christine Jayasinghe in Colombo
India and Pakistan are likely to have an unexpected ministerial encounter if commerce ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation agree to meet before November.
If top south Asian officials meeting in Colombo agree to forge a regional economic front, commerce ministers of seven SAARC members, including India and Pakistan, might meet to prepare for the upcoming World Trade Organisation meeting in Doha in November, a Sri Lankan diplomat said.
"We will have to hold at least one meeting of SAARC commerce ministers before November to agree on how we are going to be represented at the WTO meeting. The members want to have a framework agreement on a collective position that they can take to Doha," he said.
He said the common trade front is among a vast backlog of work that the SAARC foreign secretaries will grapple with, including voting money for special projects and setting dates for committee meetings.
SAARC, comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, has long wanted to hammer out a joint front that it can present at international forums.
The ministerial meeting will precede the long-delayed 11th Kathmandu summit, which is expected to be held by the end of December, the dates for which are high up on the ongoing meeting's agenda.
Indian Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer, who is leading a six-member delegation to the special session, will also meet Pakistani Foreign Secretary Imanul Haq on Friday.
It will be the first high-level meeting between senior officials of the two countries since the inconclusive July summit between Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.
Iyer is also due to call on Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar on the second day of the meet and convey New Delhi's concern over the stalled Norwegian bid to open peace talks between Colombo and Tamil separatists.
Indo-Asian News Service
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