Islamabad, Aug 29 (UNI) Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said on Thursday that Pakistan has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit meeting being held in Islamabad.

Pakistan is set to host the SCO heads of government meeting on October 15 -16. The event will be preceded by a ministerial meeting and several rounds of senior officials’ meetings focused on financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among the SCO member states.

During a weekly press briefing, the Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed that Islamabad has sent invitations to the heads of SCO countries to participate in the meeting.

“An invitation has also been sent to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi,” she said, adding that some countries had already confirmed their participation in the meeting, Dawn reported.

“It will be informed in due course which country has confirmed,” she added.

Asked about ties with India, the spokesperson said, “Pakistan does not have direct bilateral trade with India.”

In May last year, then-Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India to attend the two-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers.

He was the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in almost 12 years.

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