ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India ventured into new territory on Friday with an agreement on partnership in the field of local governance.

Panchayati Raj secretary Meenakshi Datta Ghosh and Pakistan's Secretary, National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), Humayun Ishaque Chohan signed the agreement, under which the two sides will set up a "joint working group" on local governance.

The agreement follows interest by Pakistan, which began a new system of local governance in 2001 under President Musharraf, in the working of India's panchayati raj system.

In June 2005, Union Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and NRB chairman Daniyal Aziz discussed the setting up of a Joint Forum on local governance, followed up in subsequent meetings.

The newly proposed joint working group is tasked with drawing up a schedule of bilateral exchanges in the Forum, to be chaired jointly by the Panachayati Raj Minister and the NRB chairman.

After the signing of the agreement, Ms. Ghosh said it was an "amazing coincidence" that the agreement was signed on the same day as two bills on local governance in the Lok Sabha in 1992.

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