PM, Musharraf agree to resume talks

HAVANA: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf met on the sidelines of the NAM conference here on Saturday and agreed to resume composite dialogue between the two governments in a bid to normalise ties.

The two heads of government had an hourlong one-on-one interaction and were later joined by their respective foreign secretaries and national security advisors.

A joint communique from the two governmenents was still awaited at the time of going to press. Earlier, on the first day of the 14th NAM summit, Prime Minister Singh’s address stood out for proposing a substantive vision for the movement, amidst a general clamour against the US.

However, India succeeded in ensuring that the final document of the summit, whose draft has been discussed threadbare, would be devoid of anti-globalisation, anti-US language.

Cuba, the new chairman of NAM, used its position to allow Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Iranian president Ahmedinijad to speak twice, once representing their respective countries, and once as representatives of their respective continents. As was to be expected, they rallied against globalisation and the US with abandon.