India will not send its Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to attend a meeting of SAARC ministers in Islamabad next week, Indian media reported on Tuesday.
According to the reports, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das will represent India at the SAARC Finance Ministers’ meeting instead.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to make the final decision in this regard, which will be followed by a formal announcement.
The SAARC meeting will be held during August 25-26. It will focus on finding ways and means to accelerate process of regional cooperation for non starter South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).
However, hopes for any major breakthroughs are quite bleak at a time when political tension between nuclear rivals Pakistan and India remains high in the context of growing atrocities by Indian forces in Indian-occupied Kashmir in recent weeks.
