External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday landed in Islamabad to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in the first visit to Pakistan by a senior Indian minister in years.
Jaishankar was greeted at the Nur Khan airbase by senior Pakistani officials.
It is the first time in nearly nine years that India’s foreign minister travelled to Pakistan even as the ties between the two neighbours remained frosty over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
The last Indian Foreign Minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj. She had travelled to Islamabad in December 2015 to attend a conference on Afghanistan.
Earlier in the day, India said it remains actively engaged in various mechanisms of the SCO.
Pakistan is hosting the two-day SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) summit on October 15 and 16.
“The SCO CHG meeting is held annually and focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the Organisation,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.