JOIN USPrime Minister Manmohan Singh may meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the second “Nuclear Security Summit” that begins here on Monday.
Though no formal meeting has been sought, the two leaders may come face-to-face during a reception hosted by South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak for the world leaders attending the summit.
Lee is also hosting a Working Dinner for the leaders at the COEX Convention Centre when they would review the progress made since the “Washington Summit”.
Both the Indian and Pakistani sides said no formal meeting has been scheduled. However, they did not rule out a “pull aside” meeting during the summit as both Singh and Gilani will be at the venue from morning till evening.
“No structured meeting is planned, but a pull aside is always possible,” Pakistan’s ambassador to South Korea Shaukat Ali Mukadam told reporters here on the sidelines of a ceremonial welcome to Singh at the “The Blue House”, the presidential residence.
“There are possibilities. There are various places to meet, they could meet in leaders’ lounge,” he said.
Mukadam said Gilani had a tight schedule in Seoul where he would be meeting US President Barack Obama and some other world leaders.
Some reports had earlier suggested that Gilani could meet Singh. The Pakistan prime minister will leave Seoul on Wednesday, while Singh leaves on Tuesday evening.
Sources in the Pakistan government had said Indian and Pakistani officials are working on arranging a meeting between Gilani and Singh.
However, Indian diplomatic sources said the meeting has not been scheduled yet. The summit in Seoul is a follow-up to the Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington in April, 2010.
The summit is expected to be attended by 45 heads of state or governments, including US President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao.