Taking a dramatic U-turn, Pakistan on Tuesday participated in the WTO ministerial meeting, being held in New Delhi.
“A senior official of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi is attending the meeting,’’ diplomatic sources said. The official is said to be the trade counsellor at the Pakistani mission.
Pakistan’s participation in the meeting is being seen as a positive gesture in the midst of the diplomatic stand-off between the two countries over incidents of harassment and intimidation of each other’s mission officials.
Earlier, India had extended an invitation to Pakistan Commerce Minister Pervaiz Malik for the meeting and he had confirmed his participation also. However, last week, Islamabad announced that the minister would not be attending the meeting in view of the current tension between the two countries.