External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held talks with Pakistani foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz on Thursday at the SAARC Council of Ministers Meeting in Pokhara, Nepal. In a statement to the media following the meeting, Swaraj said that the Pakistani joint investigation team established to probe the Pathankot terror attack will reach India on March 27 and begin work the following day.

Aziz said that his government had handed over a formal invitation letter for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the SAARC summit in Islamabad in November. He also expressed hope that Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif will meet in Washington later this month.

Earlier, PTI reported that Pakistan is keen on formal talks between the two countries to begin at the earliest. Pakistan is also looking to fix dates for the foreign secretary-level talks between the two countries, which were put on hold following the Pathankot attack. Both the ministers and their foreign secretaries have met informally at least five times, according to the report.