Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will take part in an international conference in India in May, which will be the first official visit by a senior Pakistani diplomat to the neighbor and arch-rival since 2016.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers on May 4-5 in Goa, a spokeswoman for his ministry, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, said during a briefing on Thursday. weekly with the press.
"Rebuilding Trust"
Pakistan suspended diplomatic and trade relations with India in 2019, after New Delhi's decision to revoke the partial autonomy status of Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority territory administered by India.
The two countries then withdrew their main diplomats and consular staff were recalled or expelled.
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Although it is not known whether Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will have bilateral meetings with Indian officials on the sidelines of the Council, analysts believe that this visit is significant.
"
More general confidence-building measures are needed to cooperate economically with India, but this is an important milestone in the history of India-Pakistan relations
," said Qamar Cheema, an expert based in Islamabad.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan which, since their independence in 1947, have claimed sovereignty over the entire Himalayan territory.
He was the cause of two of the three wars that have opposed them since.
Three decades of troubles
The Indian-administered part has seen more than three decades of unrest, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the launch of an insurgency in 1989. Delhi accuses Pakistan of supporting the separatists, which Islamabad denies.
The last trip by a senior Pakistani diplomat to India dates back to 2016, when Sartaj Aziz, then foreign affairs adviser to the prime minister, visited New Delhi.
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India currently holds the rotating presidency of the SCO, an organization that aims to counterbalance Western influence and also includes China, Russia and four Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan).
"
Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes, and the importance Pakistan attaches to the region in its foreign policy priorities
," spokesperson Mumtaz said. Zahra Baloch.
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