As follow up to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to India, Pakistan's High Commissioner to the neighbouring country, Abdul Basit, has been called to Islamabad for consultations. On the agenda is finalising the date and a range of issues for the foreign secretary-level talks between the two countries.
Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam confirmed Basit’s summon to Islamabad for "routine consultations".
The decision for talks between foreign secretaries of the two states was taken in the first formal meeting between Prime Minister Sharif and India’s newly-elected premier Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
The last round of talks held in New Delhi between Pakistan’s former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar and her Indian counterpart S. M. Krishna took place in 2011, after which talks between the two sides seem to have stalled.
To get properly briefed on issues that may come up during the secretary-level talks, Basit met Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz and Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi
Upon returning to India, Basit will meet Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh to share a possible date decided by Islamabad for the talks as well as the issues to be taken up in the secretary-level dialogue.
It was also learnt that both foreign secretaries may possibly meet in September before the UN General Assembly session where both prime ministers are expected to meet again.
0 comments:
Post a Comment