Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Islamabad on June 24, it was announced today.
A brief statement issued by the Foreign Office, said Rao, will visit Islamabad on June 24 on the invitation of Bashir for bilateral talks.
Diplomatic sources had earlier told PTI that Rao will reach the Pakistani capital a day ahead of her talks with Bashir.
The Foreign Secretary-level talks will be preceded by meetings between officials of the two sides.
The Foreign Secretaries have been tasked by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to find ways to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries and to prepare the ground for a meeting between External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad on July 15.
Soon after Rao's visit to Pakistan, Home Minister P Chidambaram will visit Islamabad to attend a meeting of interior ministers of SAARC countries.
Chidambaram will also hold talks with Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik on the sidelines of the SAARC meeting on June 26.