Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to meet US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Italy,Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon indicated on Monday. He also confirmed the possibility of meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on the sidelines of the NAM summit in mid-July. When asked about PM-Obama meeting,Menon said,I am sure they will be meeting,but we will tell you once we have it all sorted out,(with) precise timings and places. On the meeting between him and the Pak Foreign secretary,he said,It is likely to take place at Sharm-al-Sheikh (in Egypt) because I think this will be the first location where we will get a chance to meet. On the substance of that meeting,he said, We will do what we have been asked to do by our leaders. Pakistan will tell us what they have done,we will tell them our concerns and we will then report to our leaders about where we stand on the issues,which for us is bringing the perpetrators of terrorism against India to justice and dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan,which supports these activities. He added that Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari would discuss these issues as they had decided upon in Yekaterinburg on June 16. Menon did not specify the date of the meeting but it is likely to take place on July 13 or 14,ahead of the NAM Summit on July 15. Manmohan Singh,who will be attending the Summit,will then meet Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the multilateral event. Making it clear that terrorism would be the only agenda of his meeting with Salman Bashir,Menon said,It is a fact that terrorism coming out of Pakistan is really the issue. We have had assurances from Pakistan that we will be discussing so that terrorism does not affect us. On the issue of the Pakistani government challenging release of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed,prime accused in the Mumbai attacks,in the Supreme Court,he said he would comment only after there was greater clarity on the issue. I have heard all kinds of stories petition has been filed,petition has been rejected. I do not want to comment on something that is so unclear, he said. Meanwhile,Manmohan Singh leaves for Italy tomorrow to attend the summit of G-8 leaders with five Outreach countries,where the subject of the global economic downturn is likely to be on top of the agenda. During the four-day visit to Coppito,Singh will also hold bilateral meetings with US President Barack Obama and other world leaders. This will be the third meeting of the leaders of the eight developed countries and five major developing nations since the outbreak of global financial crisis last year.
