Natwar Singh to visit Pakistan

External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh is likely to visit Pakistan next month and meet his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.

External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh is likely to visit Pakistan next month and meet his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, according to officials here.

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Singh may travel to Islamabad on July 20 to attend the two-day SAARC Foreign Ministers meeting and there are strong chances of bilateral meetings between the two Foreign Ministers, Pakistani officials said.

There was also a strong possibility of Singh and Kasuri meeting at the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) meeting scheduled to be held on June 21 and 22 in Beijing.

Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan traditionally attended ACD meeting.

The meetings, if they materialise, are expected to help both the Ministers in comprehensive talks before their scheduled meeting in August to discuss the progress of the composite dialogue process.

The Foreign Ministers meeting was part of the roadmap for dialogue agreed to by both the countries in February this year. The dialogue process will be kicked off formally by the expert level talks to discuss confidence building measures, (CBMs) on June 19 and 20.

It would be followed by Foreign Secretary level talks on 27 and 28 in New Delhi to discuss Kashmir, CBMs and Peace and Security.