New Delhi (TDI): India’s External Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will visit Pakistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, the Indian foreign ministry confirmed on Friday.
The SCO summit will be held in Islamabad from October 15 to 16.
This will be the first visit of an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan in almost a decade.
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Indian External Affairs Ministry’s spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation to Pakistan for the SCO summit. He, however, did not specify if he would meet any Pakistani leaders on the sidelines.
Last month, the Foreign Office of Pakistan had sent invitations for the upcoming SCO summit to all member country heads of government, including Indian PM Narendra Modi.
“We have also received some confirmations,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said then.
Pakistan will spend a hefty Rs1 billion on security and arrangements for the highest diplomatic event this year.
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The Federal Cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has already approved the budget.
Meanwhile, the federal government has also approved the deployment of the Pakistan Army in the federal capital for the security of foreign dignitaries.
A notification issued from the Interior Ministry today said that the army will be deployed in Islamabad from October 5 to 17.
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