Washington: The US today welcomed the new Indian government's initiative to invite SAARC leaders to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi and said increased engagement between India and Pakistan was a "positive step".
"Broadly speaking, we welcome increased engagement between India and Pakistan and their leaders and other leaders in the region and India's engagement with its neighbours leading up to the inauguration," State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters.
However, she refrained from answering a question on whether the US would encourage the Pakistani leadership to attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony on May 26.
"I don't think we're going to get into that level of engagement, but certainly the invitation has been issued. We support increased dialogue and this is representative of that," Psaki said.
"We believe increased engagement between India and Pakistan is a positive step, so we'll see what happens," she said, adding that the United States did not have plans to send anyone for the swearing-in on May 26.
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