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BERLIN, Feb 1: Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said on Friday he hoped to hold talks with India’s national security adviser during a conference in Munich over the weekend.
Sattar is scheduled to attend the annual Munich Security Conference of top defence and foreign policy officials along with the Indian Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra.
“I am glad to recall that I had the opportunity in meeting Mr Brajesh Mishra in Kathmandu in the 4th, 5th and 6th of January and I will welcome the opportunity of meeting him again in Munich,” Sattar said at at joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
“But I should also be truthful in saying that no such meeting has been arranged.
“Our relations with India unfortunately continue to be blighted by long existing disputes,” Sattar said. “Our goal really is to revive, re-commence and strengthen dialogue with India in order to peacefully resolve Kashmir and other issues.”
Indian and Pakistan troops traded heavy fire across the Line of Control in disputed Kashmir on Friday as at least seven people died in separate incidents in the troubled region.
GERMAN FM: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, clearly proud of the new euro, gave his Pakistani counterpart a two-euro coin on Friday after Abdul Sattar cited prices in the European Union’s new currency.
Sattar was speaking about Pakistan’s progress in fighting corruption when he paused to convert a number in his head into euros.
“The state has recovered, through civil courts, an amount equal to — let me try it in euros — one and a half billion euros in the last two years,” Sattar told a joint news conference with Fischer.
The German minister quickly reached into his pocket and handed Sattar a shiny two-euro coin showing a gold-coloured centre surrounded by a silver ring. “You have seen it before?” Fischer asked.
“Thank you, that will add two more euros,” Sattar replied before pocketing the souvenir of his stay in Berlin.—Reuters
