Manmohan to meet Pak PM in Beijing tomorrow

Beijing, Oct 23 : Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is scheduled to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani here on Friday on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit.

The two leaders will meet to review the progress being made to promote bilateral understanding and co-operation to resolve disputes including Kashmir, the Daily Times quoted a senior Pakistani official as telling a foreign news agency.

The two leaders will likely meet at the Great Hall of the People in the afternoon, after the summit's opening session.

During his two-day stay in China, Pakistani premier will also meet the prime ministers of Malaysia and Italy and the German chancellor. Besides, he is also likely to have a brief meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao.

Gilani will lay the foundation stone of the Pak-China Friendship and Cultural Complex that will serve as an important milestone to consolidate the two countries' ties in the cultural sector.

Meanwhile, Indian and Pakistani officials will hold counterterrorism talks in New Delhi later this week to build trust and allay security concerns between the two rivals, the Indian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. "As decided by the prime minister of India and the president of Pakistan ... the Special Session of the Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism with Pakistan, will be held on October 24 in New Delhi," the Indian ministry statement said.

Relations between the two countries were strained in July after New Delhi accused Islamabad's military intelligence agency of involvement in a deadly suicide bombing of its embassy in Kabul.

The joint anti-terrorism group was set up in 2006 after train bombings in India's financial capital Mumbai in July of that year. India claimed Pakistan had a hand in the bombings, which killed 186 people.

ANI