PHNOM PENH, July 10:
India has proposed to Pakistan September 7-9 as possible dates for the much anticipated visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna for bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar.
Krishna had to earlier defer his July 18-19 visit to Pakistan to review the peace talks, which picked up after the 26/11 chill, due to the Presidential elections scheduled around the same time.
Krishna, who arrived here this evening to participate in the 10th ASEAN India Ministerial meeting and the Second East Asia Summit Foreign Ministerial meeting, said the Government has proposed the new dates and was now waiting for “concurrence” of the Pakistani Government.
“I look forward to my own visit to Islamabad which was due to take place on 19th of this month but now has to be postponed because of our presidential election and also the impending Parliament session.
“So we have decided September 7, 8, and 9 as the dates which we have proposed to Government of Pakistan. We are hoping that they would convey their concurrence,” Krishna told reporters.
Asked about his meeting with Khar in Tokyo on the sidelines of a conference on Afghanistan, Krishna refrained from giving details and said it was part of meetings aimed at bridging the trust deficit between the two countries.
“Hina Rabbani Khar after assuming the onerous responsibility of guiding the foreign affairs of Pakistan has been extremely cooperative and as she assured me when she visited Delhi that she comes with a new mindset and that mindset has been an ongoing one,” he said.
Krishna’s visit comes after the meet between foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan that concluded last week with the decision to carry forward the dialogue process in a purposeful and result-oriented manner. (PTI)
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