U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

QUESTION: Do you have a read-out of Secretary Talbott's meeting with the Indian and Pakistani officials? And also, when will he meet with them next?

MR. FOLEY: I don't have a lot about those meetings, because it's our philosophy that they are of such paramount importance that we had better leave the negotiations to the negotiators and not to the pundits and the commentators and, dare I say, the journalists.

The United States is working with India and Pakistan to address their security concerns in a way that strengthens the international non-proliferation consensus and to reduce tensions between the two countries. I won't go through all of this, because you know Deputy Secretary Talbott met with Jaswant Singh here on Monday and he met with the Pakistani Foreign Secretary, Mr. Shamshad Ahmad, yesterday in London. I think when the Deputy Secretary was in South Asia the last time, he said that we would be transparent about the meetings but not about the discussions.

So I really don't have anything to say except I understand they were positive meetings. Clearly, when we have something to announce we will do so, and I'm not in that position.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) - agreement out of this London meeting to restore international loans to Pakistan?

MR. FOLEY: During that meeting, the United States expressed -- with the Pakistanis in London, the US expressed support for the efforts of Pakistan and the IMF to reach an early agreement to alleviate Pakistan's economic difficulties. The two sides also agreed on the need for an early resumption of the Pakistan-India dialogue. Beyond that, I have no information on the meetings.

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(The briefing concluded at 3:15 P.M.)

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