External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj reached Islamabad on Tuesday ahead of India’s third bilateral engagement with Pakistan at the top level in less than two weeks.
“I will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and my counterpart Sartaj Aziz. We will talk about improving and taking forward the relations between the two countries,” Swaraj said in Islamabad.
Swaraj will attend the Heart of Asia Istanbul Process conference. The conference aimed at shoring up support for war-ravaged Afghanistan opened in the Pakistani capital on Tuesday.
This is the first ministerial visit from India to Pakistan since the visit of then external affairs minister SM Krishna in 2012.
Swaraj is expected to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his adviser on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, on the sidelines of the multilateral conference on Wednesday.
Swaraj’s visit comes following a meeting between the national security advisers of India and Pakistan in Thai capital Bangkok on Sunday. The foreign secretaries of both the countries were also present during the meeting.
A joint statement issued by the two sides in Bangkok said: “Discussions covered peace and security, terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, and other issues including tranquility along the LoC (Line of Control that divides the two counties).”
Earlier, on November 30, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had an impromptu meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the Conference of Parties (CoP) 21 climate summit in Paris.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, on November 30, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had an impromptu meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the Conference of Parties (CoP) 21 climate summit in Paris.
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