145;Progress expected from Manmohan-Aziz meet146;

Describing the upcoming Singh-Aziz meeting as important, he said the two Prime Ministers would review the progress and discuss measures to take the peace process forward. Breakthrough cannot be expected in every meeting but consultative process is going on and one should be hopeful that it moved forward, he said.

On why an agreement to pull out troops from Siachen glacier was not materialising despite his statements earlier that the two countries were close to reach a deal, Kasuri said Singh too said Siachen should be converted into a peace mountain.

Besides Siachen, he said, Sir Creek issue too could be easily resolved with display of political will. 8220;The amount of progress that has been made in the talks on these two issues, it created a common ground and the two Prime Ministers will discuss why a solution was eluding.8221;

On SAARC summit, Kasuri said Indo-Pak ties have a direct impact on the bloc8217;s role. If bilateral ties improve, it canhave a direct impact on SAARC8217;s activities and effectiveness.

Though SAARC was a multilateral forum, it provided opportunity for the leaders of both the countries to meet on its sidelines. 8220;SAARC has its own projects and they should progress and they will progress,8221; he said.