**The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan are to meet in July as part of efforts to resume formal peace talks following the 2008 Mumbai attacks.**India’s foreign minister, SM Krishna, said the invitation had come from Pakistan. He hoped his visit to Islamabad would help build trust
Contacts have been limited since India put talks on hold in 2008.
Last week an Indian court sentenced the only Pakistani gunman captured alive to death for carrying out the attacks.
The neighbours have a history of mistrust and have fought three wars.
‘No quick fixes’
Mr Krishna said he had accepted the invitiation to visit Islamabad on 15 July during a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
“I am looking forward to these talks. Let’s hope that these efforts will be fruitful,” Mr Krishna said.
Mr Qureshi said the two sides would discuss “all issues of concern” and he planned to visit Delhi at a mutually convenient date for further discussions.
But Mr Qureshi added that the talks were “not going to be easy… there are no quick fixes, but the sincerity is there”.
In February, Pakistan and India held their first formal talks since the 2008 attacks and agreed to “remain in touch”. The two sides, however, made no substantial progress.
Since then the prime ministers of both countries have met twice on the sidelines of other summits.
India has regularly rebuffed Pakistani calls to resume substantive dialogue, saying Islamabad has not done enough to tackle militants or bring the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks organisers to justice.
Correspondents say many observers believe the United States has gently persuaded both countries to ease tensions.
India blamed the attacks on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. After initial denials Pakistan admitted the attacks had been partly planned on its soil.
The attacks left 174 people dead, nine of them gunmen.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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