External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit London to attend the 19th Commonwealth foreign ministers’ meeting on 10 July.
This will be Jaishankar’s first visit to a European country after becoming the foreign minister in the Modi government. The visit will provide him with an opportunity to meet his counterparts from other Commonwealth nations.
However, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Thursday ruled out a meeting between Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi. “There is no plan for a meeting with the Pakistan foreign minister,” he said.
On reports that Air India has incurred a loss of Rs 550 crore due to the closure of Pakistani air space, the spokesperson shot back, “I hope you are aware of the loss to Pakistan”.
In any case, he said India was not responsible for the closure of its air space by Pakistan. “The ball is in their (Pakistan) court, not ours.” Pakistan had closed its air space following tensions with India in the wake of the aerial strikes by India on a terror camp at Balakot in February.