ISLAMABAD, May 16: The government has yet to take a final decision about reopening Nato supply lines and a perception that it has agreed behind closed doors to US demands in this regard is wrong, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Wednesday.

He said at a press briefing after a meeting of the federal cabinet that Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen had extended an unconditional invitation to President Asif Ali Zardari to participate in the organisation’s summit in Chicago.

In his opening remarks at the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said: “Our relations with Nato and the US are passing through a delicate phase where we need to take critical decisions keeping in view our strategic importance in the region and our national interests.”

He said the country had not, and would not, compromise on its principled stand, but would also not take “emotional decisions which will harm it in the long run”.

AFP adds: Pakistani and US officials are locked in talks to finalise a deal on again allowing thousands of trucks and oil tankers to carry non-lethal supplies from Karachi to Afghanistan.

Asked if there was any deadline for the talks, the information minister said: “There is no deadline. All departments have been asked to conclude their negotiations in the quickest possible time.”

The cabinet welcomed Nato’s invitation to President Zardari, clearing the way for him to attend the May 20-21 summit.