Sushma to depart for Nepal today to attend SAARC ministerial meet

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will leave for Nepal on Wednesday to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ministerial meeting in Kathmandu where she will be meet Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on the sidelines of the meet.

Standing Committee of the SAARC which is a Foreign Secretaries level Forum will be held today which will be attended by Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar.

These meetings will prepare the ground for the session of Council of Ministers. It will be attended by Foreign Ministers of SAARC countries.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said these meetings are part of regular interactions within the SAARC framework.

He said the meetings are expected to give an opportunity for a comprehensive review of decisions taken across all SAARC forums over the past one and half years especially India initiated proposals like SAARC Satellite.

Swarup said India's focus would be not only to take stock of the decisions but also to work out the way forward on priority issues.