Ahead of their crucial talks on Sunday, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna had an informal chat with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi at a working dinner of the SAARC foreign ministers here.
Mr. Krishna and Mr. Qureshi were seen warmly greeting each other and chit-chatting over dinner on Saturday.
No readout was given on the dinner encounter, but possibly they touched upon their top diplomats' reports on their meeting earlier in the day to prepare the ground for Sunday's talks.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao also attended the dinner, hosted by Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogoallagama for the SAARC Council of Ministers.
At the talks on Sunday, Mr. Krishna is expected to focus on terrorism emanating from Pakistan and seek concerted action against the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, while Qureshi would like to press for moving beyond Mumbai.
After what was described as a "useful exchange of views" between Ms. Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on Saturday, the Indian side said it insisted on concerted action and the need to complete the process of investigation of the Mumbai attacks because the conspiracy emanated in Pakistan.
"There is a need to bring the investigation to a satisfactory conclusion," an official said.
Mr. Bashir too described on Saturday's talks as "useful" that helped in understanding the perspectives of the two parties "more clearly", but suggested that New Delhi should not hold the relationship back on a single issue as it has done what was "required" in the case.
