Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here yesterday evening and later met Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani for talks on bilateral issues ahead of today’s inauguration of ministerial deliberations of a peace conference on Afghanistan, an official said.
Pakistan’s top diplomat Sartaj Aziz also reached Amritsar yesterday evening.
Modi and Ghani will today jointly inaugurate the ministerial deliberations at the Heart of Asia conference, which will see participation of over eight foreign ministers and other dignitaries of 14 countries, a Ministry of External Affairs official said.
The prime minister was received on his arrival in the holy city by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, the chief minister’s daughter-in-law and federal ministers Harsimrat Kaur and V K Singh.
Modi, Ghani and other world dignitaries attending the conference later paid obeisance at the holiest of Sikh shrines, the Golden Temple.
“This evening, I will have the honour of praying at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. It is always special to visit the Golden Temple,” Modi said earlier in a tweet.
In a last minute change in schedule, Sartaj Aziz arrived in Amritsar yesterday evening. An official in Islamabad earlier attributed the change in his travel schedule to “uncertain weather forecast for Sunday”.
The adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister on foreign affairs was originally scheduled to arrive here today for the conference and was supposed to return home later in the day.
Officials said any formal dialogue on the sidelines of the conference between India and Pakistan was unlikely.
The Heart of Asia conference comes amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and India, triggering speculation on whether the two countries will engage in bilateral talks on the event’s sidelines.
Aziz is leading the Pakistani delegation to the meeting that focuses on regional co-operation between Afghanistan and its neighbours to improve connectivity and tackle security threats in the war-torn country.
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates are part of the Heart of Asia initiative launched in 2011 for encouraging economic and security co-operation between Afghanistan and its neighbours for dealing with the common problems of terrorism, extremism and poverty.
Organisers of the summit, founded in Istanbul in November 2011, said the aim was to strengthen confidence-building measures and initiate steps to counter narcotics and terrorism and to expand trade, commerce and investment opportunities in Afghanistan.
India is hosting the conference, the sixth in the series, for the first time.
Modi and Ghani also attended a dinner hosted by Chief Minister Badal for the visiting dignitaries at the state government’s ambitious heritage village project ‘Sadda Pind’, or our village, on the outskirts of the holy city.
Afghanistan is the permanent chair for the Heart of Asia conference, while the host country is the co-chair. India says a basket of six confidence-building measures would be discussed during the conference.
With External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj indisposed, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will represent India at the ministerial conference.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar yesterday.
