US welcomes India, Pakistan foreign ministers’ meeting

Washington, Sep 21 (IANS) The US has welcomed as "terrific news", India’s acceptance of Pakistan’s offer of a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two neighbours on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York later this month.

Reacting to the development on Thursday, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert in a press briefing said: "We saw that. I think that’s terrific news for the Indians and Pakistanis to be able to sit down and have a conversation together."

The thaw came in the wake of a letter by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in which he had sought a meeting between foreign ministers Sushma Swaraj and Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UNGA.

"We saw the reports about the positive messages being exchanged between Prime Minister Khan and also Prime Minister Modi… We hope that the conditions will be set for a good, strong bilateral relationship in the future," Nauert said.

The Indian government had said that the two leaders will meet at a mutually convenient date and time. But, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar made it clear that "the coming meeting was not resumption of the dialogue process".