India, Pakistan PMs vow 'new chapter' at future talks

[Bosonic]

Source: AFP

ADDU, Maldives — The prime ministers of India and Pakistan said Thursday they expected to open a "new chapter" at future talks between the rival nations after they met at a regional summit in the Maldives.

India's Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani said their often strained ties were improving, but they declined to give a date for their next meeting.

"The time has come to write a new chapter in the history of our countries," Singh told reporters. "The next round of talks should be far more productive and far more practical-orientated in bringing the two countries closer."

Gilani said that "all issues" had been discussed during their one-hour talks including the contentious subject of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region which is divided between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5glLS2s49DFxhUONPVihHMYRdnIjQ?docId=CNG.ea8e7cdf2f693f5584fea6d5283aa2b4.3c1

[pampango]

1. India-Pakistan Relations: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Calls For New Chapter

The two nations decided earlier this year to restart wide-ranging peace talks. Last month, Pakistan quickly returned an Indian helicopter and its crew that had strayed across the tense border, and last week Pakistan announced it would normalize trade with India.

Singh praised Gilani as a man of peace and said the two neighbors needed to understand that their destinies are interlinked.

In their meeting, Singh and Gilani discussed the dicey issues of border disagreements, terrorism, trade and the divided territory of Kashmir, Gilani said.

The two countries have deep animosity for each other, but many in India see the simmering tensions – and the huge military costs they demand – as a drag on the country's economic ambitions. Singh has long pushed for peace talks, but the 2008 attack on the Indian city of Mumbai by Pakistan-based terrorists froze those efforts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/india-pakistan-relations-_n_1085590.html

[lsewpershad]

2. Good thing that.