Indo-Pak Foreign Secretaries to attend SAARC meeting in Nepal today

Pokhara/Kathmandu: Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan will attend the 42nd Session of the Standing Committee of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) here on Wednesday.

The meeting of the SAARC Standing Committee - a foreign secretaries-level forum – takes place a day ahead of the SAARC foreign ministers' meeting tomorrow.

The 37th Session of the Council of Ministers on Thursday will prepare the ground for the SAARC Summit later this year, to be hosted by Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to travel to Pakistan for the heads of state/government meeting.

 

Both the Foreign Secretaries - Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (India) and Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry (Pakistan) – earlier exchanged courtesies at a dinner on Tuesday and at breakfast this morning.

This was the first time the two have met since the Pathankot airbase attacks in January, which derailed bilateral ties between the two nations.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is expected to meet Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan prime minister's adviser on foreign affairs, in Pokhara on the sidelines of the SAARC meeting tomorrow.