Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India are likely to hold a secretary-level interaction on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia Conference-Istanbul Process being held today in New Delhi.

Foreign Office (FO) Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry will be leading the Pakistani delegation to the conference.

Indian newspaper The Hindu, citing government sources, also confirmed that Aizaz will meet Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

The FO spokesman said Pakistan had continued to play an active role in the Heart of Asia process, which had been launched in 2011 as a platform for discussing regional security, economic cooperation and connectivity among Afghanistan, its neighbours and regional countries with a view to promote lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Pakistan and Afghanistan jointly hosted the fifth Heart of Asia ministerial meeting in December 2015. The conference resulted in the adoption of the forward-looking Islamabad Declaration entitled “Emphasising Enhanced Cooperation for Countering Security Threats and Promoting Regional Connectivity”.

Pakistan looks forward to active participation in the forthcoming senior officials meeting of the process reflecting our commitment to efforts for promoting long-term peace and stability in the region, the FO said.

In what was termed a ‘major breakthrough’ at the Heart of Asia ministerial meeting in December last year, Pakistan and India, ending a two-year-long stalemate, announced the resumption of the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue (CBD).

Following Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘surprise’ visit to Lahore weeks after the Heart of Asia conference ? move that appeared to promise better relations between the neighbouring countries in the coming year ? a meeting between the Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries to restart the CBD was derailed over the Pathankot attack.

Since then, no date for talks between the foreign secretaries was decided, but both sides have been in touch regarding the matter. Last week while responding to a question regarding the possibility of bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the multilateral event, the FO spokesperson had reiterated Pakistan’s readiness for dialogue with India.