By IANS,
Islamabad : Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will attend the 25th NATO Summit to be held in Chicago, US, the country’s foreign ministry said Thursday.
According to the foreign ministry, Zardari will attend the May 20-21 summit in Chicago at the invitation of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani, Xinhua reported.
In Chicago, Zardari will address the Expanded ISAF Meeting besides meeting various heads of state and governments on the sidelines of the summit.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that the invitation to the NATO summit was unconditional and not linked to the reopening of ground lines of communication for NATO or to any other issue.
The NATO secretary general suggested last Friday that Pakistan could miss out on important talks on the future of Afghanistan if it failed to reopen the supply routes in time to secure a place at the NATO summit.
Pakistan blocked the supply lines for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan after its 24 soldiers were killed in a NATO cross-border air strike last November.