ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Foreign Office has confirmed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian Counterpart Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Russia on Friday.
Both the leaders are currently in the Russian City of Ufa to attend Summits of the SCO and BRICS, an association of five major emerging national economies including Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa.
“Pakistan had responded positively to a suggestion from the other side for a meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the Summit,” the Foreign Office Spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said in a statement on Thursday.
The spokesman said that the proposed meeting is in the pursuit of the objective of the prime minister’s policy to have cordial and cooperative ties with all neighboring countries including India.
Qazi Khalilullah said that the prime minister will be meeting his Indian counterpart for a comprehensive exchange of views on all issues of common interest.
Earlier, the Indian Foreign Minister Spokesman Vikas Swarup also confirmed via a tweet the scheduled meeting between Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi, saying the meeting will take at 09:00 am on July 10.
It is confirmed. PM @narendramodi and PM Nawaz Sharif will have a bilateral meeting in Ufa tomorrow at 9.15 am on sidelines of SCO Summit
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) July 9, 2015
It will be the first bilateral meeting between the two leaders since May 27 last year when Nawaz Sharif visited New Delhi to attend Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.
During the two-day visit to Russia, Nawaz Sharif is also expected to meet other world leaders including the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
