Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 20 (IANS) External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna has in a letter greeted Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, and expressed hope to work closely with her for forging “friendly and cooperative” ties between the two countries.

Krishna sent the letter of felicitation to Khar soon after learning of her appointment as the foreign minister of Pakistan Tuesday, the external affairs ministry said here in a statement Wednesday.

In his letter, Krishna said “he looked forward to meeting her in New Delhi soon and to working closely with her in achieving the common goal of establishing friendly and cooperative bilateral relations, which was in the interest of the peoples of both countries”, said the ministry.

Vishnu Prakash, the external affairs ministry spokesperson, had tweeted on the microblogging site late Tuesday night about Krishna congratulating Khar on her appointment as the foreign minister.

Khar has been the junior foreign minister for the past five months and was sworn in as the foreign minister Tuesday.

Krishna and Khar will be in Indonesia Thursday for the meeting of the foreign ministers of the ASEAN Regional Forum. But no bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the forum meeting has been set up yet.

The 34-year-old Khar, Pakistan’s first woman foreign minister and the youngest person to occupy this key position, is expected to come to India July 26 for talks.

Krishna and Khar are expected to hold the talks in New Delhi July 27 to push the peace process between India and Pakistan which the two countries revived in February this year after a long hiatus following the Nov 26-29, 2008, Mumbai terror attack.