Krishna-Khar meeting next month; to discuss progress, concerns

New Delhi, Jun 10: Krishna is expected to visit

on July 17-18 to hold talks with Khar which will be preceded by a meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries, official sources said here. Khar had come here last year for the talks.

Ahead of the ministerial-level parleys, Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik termed the current atmosphere between the two countries as "satisfactory" and said "small dents" have also started appearing in the "trust-deficit".

He also stressed the need for both countries to seize this opportunity and take steps to make the peace process "irreversible".

Indo-Pak dialogue, which had stalled following the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008, resumed last year with both sides holding a series of meetings on the eight components under the 'Composite Dialogue' format, including terrorism, Siachen, Sir Creek, Trade and Kashmir.

The two countries have already had four segments, including terrorism, trade and water in the past few months with two more -on Siachen and Sir Creek- slated for this month as part of the second round of talks.

Asked about the issues to be discussed, the sources said both sides will discuss all issues of mutual concerns.

PTI