Pak Foreign Minister arriving tomorrow

New Delhi, Jun 26 (UNI) India will push for an early agreement with Pakistan on the opening of more pilgrim places to people from either country and will expect some concrete responses on New Delhi's proposals for cross-border CBMs when the Foreign Ministers of the two countries meet here tomorrow.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who arrives here tomorrow morning on a four-day visit to India, will have talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee immediately after his arrivals.

During their discussions, the two Ministers will follow-up on the important decisions taken at their first meeting in Islamabad last month, particularly the finalisation of the pending agreement on liberalisation of the visa regime.

Other key items on the agenda will be the Jammu and Kashmir, Sir Creek, Siachen, economic cooperation and trade matters.

The visit of the Foreign Minister acquires special significance as it would set the tone for the next round of India-Pakistan Composite Dialogue Process (CDP) and future course of bilateral engagement.

The visit comes close on the heels of the third meeting of the India-Pakistan Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism in Islamabad on June 24.

It also follows visit to India by a delegation of the Pakistan Planning Commission and their meetings with officials here.

Mr Mukherjee will host a lunch for his Pakistani counterpart.

This will be the second meeting between the two Foreign Ministers during the past month. They had met in Islamabad on May 21 to prepare ground for the Fifth round of the CDP.

The Pakistan Foreign Minister will call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence in the evening.

On Saturday, Mr Qureshi will have separate meetings with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, L K Advani at their residences respetively.

On Sunday, he will leave for Jaipur, Ajmer and Chandigarh.

The Pakistan Foreign Minister will be leading a six-member delegation comprising senior officials and recently appointed Pakistan Ambassador-at-Large Nasir Ali Khan.

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