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Pakistan-India secretary-level talks to start Sept 1

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Aug 31, IRNA
Pakistan-India
Pakistan and India are poised for secretary-level talks on bilateral matters from September 1 in Islamabad, less than two weeks before a meeting between President General Pervez Musharraf and Indian Premier Manmohan Singh, reports and officials said.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran is due in Pakistan for a three-day visit on Wednesday for talks with his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan, the Foreign Office confirmed.

These talks are being seen as very crucial in the run up to a rendezvous between Musharraf and Singh in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in mid-September.

Pakistan and India have expressed the resolve to take forward the peace process.

Foreign Office Spokesman Naeem Khan has confirmed the meeting and said that both sides would be looking for ways and means to further the composite dialogue.

He told IRNA that Islamabad would like to see tangible progress toward the settlement of Kashmir problem.

The disputed piece of land has been impeding relations between the two nuclear-armed nations.

Progress of the second round of talks under the composite dialogue would also be reviewed during the foreign secretary-level talks.

The dialogue process was started following a historic meeting between Musharraf and the then Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Islamabad on February 6, 2004.

This meeting took place on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit.

Relations between the two countries have improved significantly since then.

India has already granted the most favored nation (MFN) status to Pakistan.

However, Pakistan has insisted for substantial progress on Kashmir issue before it grants MFN status to India.

Some reports indicated that New Delhi wanted progress on other fronts, while adopting a go-slow policy on Kashmir issue.

Pakistan and India have fought two of the three wars on Kashmir dispute.

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