LONDON, Nov 29: A British official said on Friday that any bilateral contact at the highest level between the Pakistani and Indian leadership during the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in January in Islamabad would be a significant development.

“Clearly, any bilateral meeting in January between the highest level of the Indian and Pakistan governments would be a significant and welcome development,” the official told APP while commenting on the possibility of a meeting between prime ministers Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Atal Behari Vajpayee during the summit.

The official said it was for the two countries to see whether such a meeting could be arranged.

“It is a very good news to see that the ceasefire proposed by Pakistan and reciprocated by India is still holding,” the official said and added: “The ceasefire as a confidence building measure will undoubtedly improve the atmosphere between the two countries and is an extremely significant event.”

“We hope both governments will be able to work together to ensure that it holds not only for the sake of the security of the region but also because of the obvious benefit to the people, who live on both sides of the Line of Control,” the official said.—APP