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Vajpayee 'optimistic' about talking Sharief into Indo-Pak dialogue

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday set the tone for his much-awaited talks with Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharief tomorrow by expressing confidence that the stalled official-level dialogue would resume shortly.

Vajpayee's meeting with the Pakistani premier is scheduled for 1700 hours (1600 hours IST) in Colombo, where he arrived on Tuesday afternoon to take part in the 10th SAARC summit.

Wednesday's discussion, the prime minister was confident, would get the dialogue going again 'in the near future.'

When it was pointed out that diplomats on both sides were not optimistic about the talks, the prime minister said: "I am always very optimistic."

He said his offer of no-first-use agreement on nuclear weapons would be among the several subjects that would come up during the meeting.

The Indo-Pak dialogue came to a halt in September 1997, after the foreign secretaries met for the third round in New Delhi. They had adjourned the meeting as they could not agree about setting up a work group to deal with the Kashmir issue.

Vajpayee, who will lead the Indian delegation at the three day SAARC meeting beginning Wednesday, arrived by an Indian Air Force Boeing 737, Rajhans. He was received at the Bandaranaike international airport by Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Amid pouring rain, Vajpayee, after a red carpet welcome, took the salute from the three wings of the Sri Lankan armed forces before flying into the city in a helicopter to join the other heads of state at the Taj Samudra hotel.

Union Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde and Principal Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office Brajesh Mishra also arrived with Vajpayee.

Deputy Planning Commission Chairman Jaswant Singh, now in Manila attending the ASEAN-related meetings, would arrive in Colombo Wednesday afternoon to brief the prime minister about his talks with the foreign ministers of the United States, Russia and China on issues of security and disarmament.

Soon after his arrival, Vajpayee was briefed by Minister of State for External Affairs Vasundhara Raje and Foreign Secretary K Raghunath about the pre-summit meeting, with particular reference to Pakistan's abortive attempt to get incorporated in the draft declaration an oblique reference to the nuclear issue through the peace and security clause.

UNI

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