The carefully formulated joint statement that was worked out after hours of discussions among the members of the delegation, including the National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan and the Foreign Secretary-designate Shivshankar Menon from the Indian side. Pakistan's Secretary of the National Security Council Tariq Aziz, Foreign Minister Kasuri and Foreign Secretary Riaz Khan was there from the Pakistani side.

When asked by the Indian media whether the new agreement represented a breakthrough, Gen. Musharraf said, "Yes, it is very good." He was quite happy over the outcome. He however refused to be drawn into a detailed discussion, pointing out that he had committed himself to not saying anything more than what the statement said, lest it should hamper the dialogue process.

Before the one to one meeting of the two leaders, both the sides were accompanied by their delegations for a brief interaction. The Indian delegation included Mr. Narayanan, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, Mr. Shivshankar Menon and Media Adviser to the Prime Minister Sanjaya Baru. The Pakistani side included Mr. Kasuri, Mr. Riaz Khan, and Minister of State Sumaira Malik.

Indian officials later expressed satisfaction over the outcome of the meeting, noting that “ All the major issues, including the formulation on terrorism were being negotiated till the very last. The reference to terrorism and the constitution of a joint mechanism to counter it were in tune with the Prime Minister's stand that he can carry Indian public opinion with him only if there were credible assurances on terrorism”. At the same time, the resumption of the Foreign Secretary-level dialogue, addressing the issues of Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek satisfied the Pakistani side.