Asia-Pacific

Pakistan, India agree to resume formal peace talks

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-10 21:26

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and India have agreed to resume formal peace talks for the first time since the Mumbai attacks in 2008, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will visit India in July 2011 to review progress in the dialogue process with his counterpart. This will be preceded by a meeting of the two foreign secretaries, a Foreign Office statement said.

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Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao met in the Bhutanese capital Thimphu on Sunday and made the decision to resume the stalled dialogue, the Foreign Office said.

"They have agreed to resume dialogue on all issues following the spirit of the Thimphu meeting between the two prime ministers," the statement said.

Both sides have agreed that prior to the visit of the foreign minister of Pakistan, meetings at the level of respective secretaries will be convened on a number of suspending issues including counter-terrorism (including progress on Mumbai trial) and Kashmir.

Dates of the aforementioned meetings will be fixed through diplomatic channels, the statement said.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Thursday welcomed the resumption of formal peace talks, the PM office said.

"Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has expressed his satisfaction on the important decision taken both by Pakistan and India to resume full spectrum of dialogue," a statement from the PM office said.  

The prime minister expressed these views during a meeting in Islamabad with the foreign secretary who presented him a report on his meeting with the Indian foreign secretary at Thimphu.

The prime minister said this constitute a culmination of the efforts made by him alongwith Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the last few months and most notably their meeting at Thimphu in April 2010 on the sidelines of a regional summit.