India, Pak foreign secys likely to meet in Feb

India on Sunday said that Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is likely to meet her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Standing Committee meeting in Bhutan early in February.

This comes ahead of a possible visit by Pakistan Foreign Minister S M Qureshi to India. The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are likely to meet in Thimpu on the sidelines of the SAARC Standing Committee meeting on February 6-7, an official spokesperson said.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had said that foreign secretaries of the two countries will meet to "clear the ground for a very productive meeting" between the two foreign ministers.

Pakistan had on Saturday said that Qureshi will visit India if the foreign secretaries of the two countries evolve a 'comprehensive agenda' for resuming the stalled composite dialogue.

Rao last met Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly session in September.