Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan exchanged pleasantries during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Friday, official sources said.
Khan congratulated Modi on his election victory during their first face-to-face interaction, but there was no official meeting between the two leaders.
The Modi-Khan interaction came over two weeks after the Pakistan prime minister and foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi wrote separate letters to their Indian counterparts, pushing for a restart of their bilateral talks.
Khan had also called Modi on May 26, when the latter was sworn in as India's prime minister for a second term, and expressed his desire to work together for betterment of people of India and Pakistan. On his part, Modi said that creating trust and an environment free of violence and terrorism was essential for fostering peace and prosperity in the region.
All this led to speculation that Modi and Khan may have a meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Bishek.
Modi arrived in the Kyrgyz capital on Thursday. He held bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. He also held talks with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, where the two countries upgraded their relations to strategic partnership level.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
