As PM, Modi has brief exchanges with SAARC leaders

Soon after being sworn-in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight met the leaders of SAARC countries, including Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, at a dinner hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee.

Modi had brief exchanges with Sharif as also with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, official sources said.

All the leaders, who were here to attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony, gathered at the reception hosted by Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan, they said.

Modi will formally meet Sharif and other leaders tomorrow.