Pakistani foreign minister’s visit put off till next year
By IANSWednesday, October 13, 2010
NEW DELHI - Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will now visit India only next year because of scheduling problems caused by a slew of high-level visits in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said here Wednesday.
Krishna said at a breakfast interaction with editors that he extended an invitation to his Pakistani counterpart when he visited Islamabad in July and the visit had been expected to happen later this year.
But a “crowded calendar” in New Delhi had led to the visit being put off till early next year, he said.
Besides US President Barack Obama, who will be here early next month, other high-level visitors to New Delhi this year would include Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia.
Krishna said India and Pakistan would carry on from the discussions he had in Islamabad.
The two ministers had no formal interaction in New York where they attended the UN General Assembly session, but they had a chance meeting outside the UN building when both were waiting for their cars.
Krishna said the permanent representatives of the two countries in the UN had “excellent rapport”.
Both of them jointly supported the India-Pakistani duo of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi who reached the men’s doubles final at the recent US Open tennis and became the focus of the world media.
