Pakistan FM to visit India in July for talks

Islamabad, Jun 24: Pakistan today (Jun 24) said that its Foreign Minister will be travelling to India next month to take forward the bilateral peace process.

"What we can deliver at this stage is that our Foreign Minister will be visiting New Delhi in July," Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik said.

On the ongoing Foreign Secretary-level talks, Malik said, "they are going well." Pakistan currently has Hina Rabbani Khar as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. But there are reports that Pakistan government has decided to elevate her to full-fledged cabinet rank ahead of crucial talks with India next month.

Even without elevation, India has already expressed its view that it will not have any hesitation in hosting Rabbani for the Foreign Minister-level talks in July.

There has been a series of meetings between the two neighbours and the ongoing two-day Foreign Secretary-level talks is part of the preparation for the next month's meeting.

In preceding month, both countries have held a series of meetings on peace and security and Confidence Building Measures.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao today called on Rabbani and said these meetings were an effort to understand the complexities of the issues between the two countries and build more trust and confidence.

Rabbani hoped that the interactions will result in some forward movement.

PTI