Indian Premier Narendra Modi has accepted an invitation from Pakistan to take part in a regional summit in Islamabad next year amid the sour relations between the two countries.

A joint statement from the two governments on Friday confirmed Modi’s positive response to the invitation after he met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Russia while attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the city of Ufa.

"Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reiterated his invitation to Prime Minister Modi to visit Pakistan for the SAARC Summit in 2016. Prime Minister Modi accepted that invitation," the statement said.

New Delhi had previously refrained from confirming Modi's participation in the next summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in the Pakistani capital.

Sharif attended Modi's inauguration in May 2014. However, the Indian premier has not visited Pakistan since then.

India and Pakistan have had rocky relations over the past decades. They have fought three major wars since 1947, were engaged in a nuclear arms race in the 1980s and clashed in the 1990s.

Tensions intensified between New Delhi and Islamabad after November 2008, a heavily armed and well-drilled group of 10 commandoes, arrived in the Indian city of Mumbai by sea. The men split into groups to attack various targets. Their assault on the Taj Mahal Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel and a Jewish center went on for 60 hours and claimed 166 lives.

Nine members of the group were killed in the attacks. Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman in the attacks, was hanged in 2012.

India blamed the banned Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), for the attacks.

Delays in legal proceedings against the suspected mastermind of the bombings who India wants extradited has angered the country all the more.

The Friday statement, meanwhile, said India and Pakistan would "discuss ways and means" to speed up the legal process.

The two governments have also agreed that officials responsible for security on both sides of Kashmir border would meet soon, as would their respective national security advisors to "discuss all issues connected to terrorism,” according to the statement.

Kashmir lies at the heart of almost 67 years of hostility between India and Pakistan. Both neighbors claim the region in full, but have partial control over it. Thousands of people have been killed in Kashmir over the past 25 years.