Maldives FM invites Pakistani PM to summit

Maldives Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem Wednesday met Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani inviting him to attend the a major regional summit next month in Maldives, officials said. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is to be held in Maldives next month attended by heads of states and governments from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. Naseem said that Maldives would welcome a meeting betweem prime ministers of India and Pakistan on the sidelines of the summit. He appreciated Indo-Pakistan's initiatives to improve bilateral relations. He also disclosed that his country was holding Convention on Shaiah jurisprudence and inter-faith harmony. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gilani said that the Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz has been actively engaged to promote inter-faith harmony at global level. He said that the Saudi King had accepted an invitation to participate in the Convention. He adde that it was heartening to mention that relations among SAARC countries were improving. By espousing the theme of “connectivity”, the people of the region would come closer leading to improvement in their relations on sustainable basis, he added. The prime minister recalled his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Mohali which was followed by Ministerial and Secretary level exchange of visits between the two countries focused to improve multifaceted cooperation especially enhancing trade and people to people contact. He said the importance of ‘connectivity’ through air, land and sea was necessary to promote regional transit-trade besides building bridges among the people of member states.