Modi, Sharif to meet on Friday

IANS

09 July, 2015, 13:43

Update: 09 July, 2015, 18:09

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, front left, shakes hands with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif as Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, center, watches during the closing session of 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Kathmandu on 27 November 2014. Photo: Reuters

Ufa, Russia: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Ufa, Russia.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup took to Twitter to announce the meeting between the two leaders.

‘It is confirmed. PM @narendramodi and PM Nawaz Sharif will have a bilateral meeting in Ufa tomorrow at 9:15am on sidelines of SCO Summit’.

Though India’s External Affairs Ministry last week refused to say anything on the matter, a likely meeting between the two leaders was being contemplated during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on Friday for many months.

Both India and Pakistan are observers of the China-led grouping and have applied to become full members. The 15th SCO summit in Ufa is likely to see the two neighbours being absorbed as full members.

Ties between India and Pakistan have soured over the past few months, especially over the border firings and Islamabad’s raising the Kashmir issue at the UN and other fora.

However, Modi did call up Sharif to greet him for Ramadan. The two countries also helped evacuate each other’s nationals from Yemen.