India going for talks with Pak Foreign Secy with open mind:Rao

Ajay Kaul

Thimphu, Feb 6 (PTI) Setting a positive tone ahead oftheir meeting here, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and herPakistani counterpart Salman Bashir today said they wouldendeavour to find a way forward for continued engagementbetween the two countries.

"We are resuming our contact after interregnum of sometime. We have a number of issues to be discussed. As we havealways said that dialogue between India and Pakistan isnecessary and a must if we are to satisfactorily resolve theoutstanding issues between our two countries," she said.

"We have a number of outstanding issues. So, we are goinginto this with an open mind and constructive attitude," Raosaid.

Noting that her Pakistani counterpart would also have a"number of ideas" to discuss, Rao said, "so, this is going tobe exploratory discussion and we hope that through thisprocess, we can find a way forward."

Bashir separately said he was looking forward to hismeeting with Rao. "My expectations are that we should beworking towards continued engagement," he said.

He said the two Foreign Secretaries would be preparingfor engagement between their Foreign Ministers. (More) PTI AKKKIM AKJ