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Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005

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Foreign Secretary to visit Islamabad

Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Days before a possible meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in the first half of September in New York, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will travel to Islamabad for talks with his counterpart Riaz Muhammad Khan.

An official announcement said on Monday that Mr. Saran would be in Islamabad from August 31 to September 2 for the wrap-up meeting of the second round of the bilateral composite dialogue to be held on September 1. It was also announced that Foreign Ministers Natwar Singh and Khurshid Kasuri would meet in Islamabad on October 4.

The second round of the composite dialogue began on December 27, 2004, in Islamabad where the Foreign Secretaries discussed two of the subjects in the composite dialogue — peace and security, including confidence-building measures, and Jammu and Kashmir.

Meetings on five other subjects under the composite dialogue framework — Siachen, Tulbul navigation project, Sir Creek, economic and commercial cooperation and promotion of friendly exchanges — were completed between May and August 2005. Home Secretary-level talks on the sixth subject of terrorism and drug trafficking are scheduled for August 29 and 30.

"The Foreign Secretaries would now assess the progress made during the second round of dialogue, take stock of the relationship, and outline the course to move forward the dialogue process," the announcement added.

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