Kathmandu: A handshake between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif at a mountain retreat outside Nepal’s capital Kathmandu on Thursday partially salvaged the SAARC summit, with the 8-nation grouping clinching a last-minute deal to create a regional electricity grid. The brief Modi-Sharif meeting happened even as militants wearing army uniforms attacked an Indian army base in Kashmir and killed six people.
Pakistan, which still refused to sign two other planned pacts to boost cross-border road and rail traffic, was increasingly sidelined at the summit after Modi had cold-shouldered Sharif throughout Wednesday, which marked the sixth anniversary of the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai.
Thursday's pact could buttress Modi's ambition for South Asia to become an economic counterweight to China, which has made inroads in the region, with port and road developments in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as the Saarc nations failed to integrate the region over the past three decades.
China, which has observer status at Saarc, is now seeking full membership, backed by Pakistan. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin on Wednesday promised $30 billion for road building in South Asia over five years, and wants trade doubled to $150 billion. Prime Minister Modi announced an easier regime for business and medical visas and promised to lower India's trade surplus in his bid to close ranks in the region.
