Singh-Zardari meet will have 'salutary impact' on ties: Pak

Pakistan today said the meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia — the first top-level contact after 26/11 — will "have a salutary impact" on bilateral ties.

It is for the first time that Pakistan has confirmed the meeting, which will be held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit here.

"It is a welcome development and will have a salutary impact," Pakistan's official APP news agency quoted Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi as saying.

"The two leaders will have a one-on-one meeting," he said without divulging more details. "Let the meeting take place and then we can talk after it is over," he said.

Asked about the agenda, Qureshi said, "We can't prejudge the outcome of the meeting," and added that it was an "important meeting" between two important leaders.

On how long the meeting was expected to last, he said, "When two national leaders meet, time is of no significance."

The two leaders last met in September 2008 on the sidelines of UN General Assembly in New York.

This will be the first highest-level contact between the two countries since the Mumbai attacks last year as India has suspended dialogue till Pakistan takes "concrete" action against those behind the strikes and dismantles the terror infrastructure.