Kathmandu: In a brief meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif shook hands during the retreat at the SAARC Summit on Thursday. The meeting between the two leaders is just being seen as a courtesy call to share pleasantries.
"Yes, they have met and shook hands at the retreat," Nepal Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey said in Dhulikhel, where the retreat is being held on the second day of the two-day Saarc Summit. Both the prime ministers have taken a tour in and around the resort which is famous for watching Himalayas. Leaders will spend almost five hours at the retreat.
The leaders are making the last effort at the retreat to push the Pakistani premier to ink the regional connectivity agreements. Pakistan stalled the inking of SAARC connectivity on Wednesday on the pretext that they have not completed the "internal process". The leaders are expected to convey their keenness to ink the pacts to Sharif.
All heads of the SAARC nations are meeting in Dhulikhel in Kavre district, 20 kms east from Kathmandu for a retreat which is a tradition of the Summit where leaders hold private, unofficial bilateral and multilateral talks in a relaxed and more informal atmosphere.
SAARC retreats are ideally organised outside the summit venue in resorts and hotels where the leaders can relax and discuss the bilateral and multilateral agendas. It also provides an opportunity to quell disagreements on unresolved issues.
Nepalese Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey had said on Wednesday that "there are some roadblocks and we are working to clear them." He also said his country will make all efforts to ensure that the connectivity pacts, including the motor vehicle agreement, are signed before the SAARC declaration.
Multiple diplomatic sources said that both the prime ministers were seen talking during a reception hosted by Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Wednesday evening in honour of visiting SAARC heads of state and government.
Both the prime ministers also spoke to each other in a waiting room. The teo leaders were in the same row at dinner and were chatting with each other, said a diplomat, adding that it was very personal and not substantive.
Pakistan on Wednesday played spoilsport by blocking three major SAARC connectivity projects initiated by India. While Modi, who gave a forceful maiden speech at the summit on the need for seamless connectivity, met his Bangladeshi and Bhutanese counterparts Sheikh Hasina and Tshering Tobgay, and later the presidents of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives - Ashraf Ghani, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Abdulla Yameen - Sharif was not on the list.
No structured meeting has been planned between Modi and Sharif but the MEA has maintained that an informal meeting between the two leaders cannot be ruled out. As of now, both leaders have not met separately at the retreat, but Nepal and other SAARC members are pushing them to sit for talks. Tensions between Modi and Sharif, however, were evident during the SAARC summit on Wednesday.
Pakistan on Wednesday blocked three key pacts pushed by India. It also sought to include China in SAARC which India rebuffed. India is likely to seek cooperation with all SAARC member nations separately.
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