Islamabad
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be invited to Pakistan for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said on Tuesday.

Addressing a conference in Islamabad, Faisal recalled that Prime Minister Imran Khan in his first address had said that if India took one step forward, Pakistan would take two.

Prime Minister Modi will be invited to Pakistan for the SAARC summit, Faisal was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper.

SAARC Summits are usually held biennially hosted by a member state in alphabetical order. The member state hosting the summit assumes the Chair of the Association. The last SAARC Summit in 2014 was held in Kathmandu, which Modi attended.

India boycotted the 2016 SAARC Summit scheduled in Islamabad because of an attack at an Indian military base in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri in September of the same year. India cited “prevailing circumstances” as its reason for backing out in an attempt to step up diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. After India decided against going, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also refused to participate.