Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna arrives Islamabad

Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna on a three-day visit to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar on various bilateral issues arrived in Islamabad on Friday.

During his stay in Pakistani, the Indian External Affairs Minister will chair the Joint Commission Meeting with Khar.

He will also be called on President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf besides holding meeting leaders of certain political parties.

The trip comes after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of a summit in Tehran on Thursday.

The foreign ministers will look into the possibility of the visit of Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to Pakistan on the invitation of President Asif Ali Zardari.

During the inter-ministerial meeting on Friday, the progress made on various issues so far, including peace, security and confidence-building measures, Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen Glacier, Sir Creek, economic and commercial cooperation, and Wullar barrage, will be deliberated.

Both the countries have recently signed the customs cooperation agreement to facilitate importers and exporters at the Wagah border.

India has also permitted Pakistani entrepreneurs to invest in India and initially two Pakistani textile companies are selling their products in India.

The Indian minister ahead of the visit said, “I look forward to discussions with Hina Khar which I believe will serve to promote mutual understanding and trust between our two countries. India is of the view that normalization of relations between India and Pakistan should be a step-by-step process. My visit to Pakistan is one more step in that approach.”

He further stated, “We remain committed to resolving all issues with Pakistan through a bilateral dialogue in an atmosphere free from terror and violence. We are convinced that for the normalization of relations between our two countries, a step-by-step graduated approach is the most realistic one”.

Formal talks between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India would be held on but the foreign secretaries would meet on Friday to prepare for the ministerial meeting.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Sep 7 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.