Pakistan will formally extend an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday in Nepal to visit Pakistan in September to attend - along with other regional leaders - the 19th Saarc Summit. Responding to a question, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will meet Foreign Ministers of SAARC Countries on the sidelines of the Saarc Council of Ministers' meeting on March 17, 2016 in Nepal.
Without mentioning Indian Prime Minister Modi, the spokesperson said that the Adviser will extend Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's formal invitation to their respective heads of state/heads of government for the 19th SAARC Summit, being hosted by Pakistan in Islamabad this year during the meetings with respective foreign ministers.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will meet his counterparts from SAARC countries including Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday in Nepal to extend an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, sources said the Adviser will also meet Indian External Affairs Minister in the Nepalese tourist city of Pokhara to extend formal invitation of the Prime Minister to his Indian counterpart to attend the 19th SAARC Summit being hosted by Pakistan in September this year.
In her visit to Pakistan in December last year, Swaraj had indicated that Prime Minister Modi will visit Pakistan to attend the Saarc Summit, as the two countries announced commencement of the "Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue". The sources further said that Aziz-Swaraj meeting will also provide an opportunity to the two sides to discuss the much-delayed meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries. The two foreign secretaries were scheduled to meet in January in Islamabad to work out an agenda for various meetings at different levels under the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue but the meeting could not take place due to the Pathankot terrorist attack.
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