Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and is understood to have discussed with him the regional situation, particularly in the war-torn country.
During the SAARC Summit in Colombo in 2008, the Navy had deployed three warships along with helicopters to provide security to the meeting.
In a few minutes from now, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterparty Yousaf Raza Gilani will hold a one-on-one meeting in the neutral venue of Bhutan House in Thimphu. A lot of excitement is generated whenever the governments of India and Pakistan hold talks, a as a result of pre-summit exchanges of expectations, spins and charges.However, since the Parliament session is on in India and Pakistan is in the middle of far-reaching changes.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Gan on Wednesday on a four-day visit to Maldives during which he will attend the South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation Summit and have a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Official sources told PTI that Speaker of the Peoples' Majlis Abdullah Shahid has sent a formal invitation to the prime minister to address the Majlis during his official visit to Maldives for the two-day SAARC Summit on November 10-11, which has been accepted.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani held 'very good talks' in a 'free and frank' manner, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters, after the two leaders met on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, for 50 minutes on Thursday.Dr Singh told Gilani that cooperation between the two nations was vital for the progress of SAARC's goals and peace in south Asia.
There is a lot that the SAARC can do if only its two biggest countries, India and Pakistan, leave their disputes back home. Sheela Bhatt gauges the mood at the opening day of the regional summit in Thimphu, Bhutan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the announcement at the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit that began in Thimphu with an apt theme -- Towards a Green and Happy South Asia.
No bilateral meeting has been fixed so far between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani in Bhutan during the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Thursday."As of now, no such meeting has been set up between the prime minister and Gilani," she said, adding that Dr Singh will have separate meetings with leaders from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will reach Maldives on November 9 to attend the 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit to be held on November 10 and 11, in the scenic Addu island.
Climate change is the official agenda for the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit beginning on Wednesday, but the real focus will be on 'temperature' in Indo-Pak relations, which have always overshadowed such meetings.
India supports "a fresh SAARC position on Climate Change for COP (Conference of Parties) 16 in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Chnage principles and the Bali Action Plan," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said, addressing the SAARC Council of Ministers.
The Summit on April 28-29, to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will also unveil rules and regulations for the ambitious SAARC University which is in the process of being set up in Delhi.
A stable, secure and prosperous neighbourhood is a sine qua non for the emergence of a great power. India cannot be merely seen as free-riding on the outside powers for regional stability.
India on Wednesday said some of the arrangements discussed in advance for providing protection to the top leaders did not get implemented.
Recognising the "serious threat" posed by terrorism to the peace and stability of South Asia, the 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit on Sunday in a declaration supported "strongest possible cooperation" against the menace and signed a key agreement in this regard.
Terrorism is the biggest threat to South Asia's stability, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit on Saturday."Terrorists and extremists don't know borders. We must act with determination to fight terrorism. We cannot lose the battle against ideologies of hatred," said Dr Singh.Terrorism is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion during the three-day summit, which started today in Colombo.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday left for Colombo to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation summit beginning on Saturday, during which terrorism is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion. Singh is expected to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the summit and is likely to convey India's concerns over the recent spurt in cross-border terrorism and ceasefire violations.
The Bush administration's point man for South Asia, Richard Boucher, has said that while Washington fully recognises the terrorist threat Sri Lanka continues to face from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, it should continue acting like a democracy and protect all of its citizens. The senior diplomat feels that there is a need for a political solution "alongside whatever is going on militarily and we hope the Tamil Tigers will see that as well."
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday and discussed the internal security in the country and the forthcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit meeting in Sri Lanka.
He has written a letter to the Pakistan PM in this regard.
The arrest of Madhuri Gupta, a diplomat working in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, on charges of spying will have an impact on the mood of the ongoing South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Thimphu because the matter is related to India's national security. Gupta, 53, a promotee officer of the ministry of external affairs, was arrested in New Delhi four days ago. Prasad refused to elaborate further on the issue. Gupta used to work as a translator.
India and Bangladesh have recently agreed to provide consular access to arrested insurgents and criminals on reciprocal basis, besides sharing information about their actvities.
Musharraf attended the SAARC summit in 2002 at Kathmandu where he grabbed headlines with his famous handshake with the then Indian Prime Minister A B Vajpayee in a bid to reduce the mounting military tensions.
The summit will be held in the picturesque city of Kandy, with Colombo planning 'foolproof' security arrangements to ward off any attack from the LTTE as it battles the rebel forces in the north.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will make a statement in Parliament on December 14 on the recent developments in India-Pakistan relations.
Pakistan's support for the proposal of establishing the main campus of SAF would be conditional till all issues pertaining to free movement of students, teachers, visiting professors and faculty members are resolved.
Senior IPS official Ashwani Kumar took charge as the new director of the Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday. "My top priority would be to reduce the trail time of our cases," the new CBI director said. He added, "the CBI is under tremendous pressure to nab Dawood Ibrahim."
He called for initiating tangible projects to realise the objective of progress and development of the entire region and proposed strengthening the role of the SAARC Secretariat.
The national capital, which will host the summit on April 3 and 4, will be dotted by crack commandos of Delhi Police and the paramilitary forces.
The prime minister will arrive in Islamabad on Saturday to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit.
Afghanistan became a SAARC member in 2006.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the evolving situation in Nepal and the upcoming SAARC Summit in Dhaka with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and leader of opposition L K Advani on Wednesday.
This is apparently keeping in view the developments in Nepal where King Gyanendra has assumed all executive powers after dismissing the Sher Bahadur Dueba-led coalition government.
Vajpayee had, on Sunday, asserted that he would consider attending the SAARC summit if Pakistan completely stopped cross-border terrorism before the event. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The proposed South Asia Free Trade Agreement, which will come into effect according to the timetable set out at the SAARC summit in Islamabad, will greatly benefit the region, diplomats from the member countries said in Washington.
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