India-Pak Foreign Ministers to meet in Thimpu

New Delhi, Jan 9: India on Sunday, Jan 9, said that Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is likely to meet her Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Standing Committee meeting in Bhutan early next month.

This comes ahead of a possible visit by Pakistan Foreign Minister SM Qureshi to India.

“The Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan are likely to meet in Thimpu on the sidelines of the SAARC Standing Committee meeting on February 6-7," an official spokesperson said.

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna had said that foreign secretaries of the two countries will meet to “clear the ground for a very productive meeting" between the two foreign ministers.

Pakistan on Saturday, Jan 8, said that Qureshi will visit India, if the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries evolve a “comprehensive agenda" for resuming the stalled composite dialogue.

Rao last met Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly session in Sep, 2010.

PTI