Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani today expressed satisfaction at the resolve of India and Pakistan to continue their bilateral talks and not be deterred by terrorists' "designs to derail the dialogue once again." Gilani made the remarks during a meeting with visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G L Peiris at the Prime Minister's House. Pakistan has strongly condemned the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai,he said. The Premier's comments came a day after External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said India would go ahead with Foreign Minister-level talks with Pakistan as scheduled at the end of this month despite the triple blasts in Mumbai that killed 18 people on Wednesday. Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar is scheduled to visit New Delhi for talks with Krishna. In 2008,India suspended the composite dialogue process after 10 members of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group attacked Mumbai,killing 166 people. During his interaction with Peiris,Gilani said the countries of the region should remain committed to getting rid of the menace of terrorism just as Sri Lanka has done. "The Prime Minister placed great emphasis on peace in the region and said that Pakistan wants to maintain friendly relations with all its neighbours,including India,Iran and Afghanistan," an official statement said. "He stated that stability in Afghanistan is most important," it said. Gilani said Pakistan supports an "Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process of reconciliation" in Afghanistan. Referring to Pakistan-Sri Lanka relations,Gilani said Pakistan is looking forward to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit in November. He encouraged Sri Lanka to move forward on negotiations with Pakistan on a "Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" and welcomed the move to hold a meeting in this context in August. Calling for an expansion of trade and commercial ties,he said it was important to hold regular meetings of the Joint Economic Commission,which met last week after a gap of six years. Gilani also offered to assist Sri Lanka in preparations for hosting the Asian Games. Peiris,who is on a two-day visit to Pakistan as an envoy of the Sri Lankan President,briefed Gilani on his country's campaign against terrorism during the past 30 years and the current process of reconciliation,revival of leadership and reconstruction of infrastructure. He said a soft-term loan from Pakistan will enable Sri Lanka to forge cooperation in various sectors.
