Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will leave on Sunday on a four-day official visit to three Saarc member countries for talks on regional and bilateral matters. He will visit India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives in his capacity as the current chairman of the seven-nation regional grouping. He had already visited Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal early this month.
Besides matters of regional co-operation, the prime minister's visit would focus on increasing bilateral ties with the South Asian states with particular focus on increasing commercial and trade ties.
This will be prime minister's first visit to these countries. It is a Saarc tradition that its chairman makes farewell calls to Saarc capitals before the next summit. The next summit is scheduled for January in Bangladesh.
Pakistan assumed the chair at the 12th Saarc Summit held in Islamabad, which infused a new life in the grouping that had been largely known for more talks than action.
The Islamabad Summit saw the signing of a landmark South Asian Free Trade Agreement (Safta) aimed at increasing regional economic co-operation.
The member states also inked a Social Charter to draw plan of action on alleviating poverty from the region, which is home to over half of the world population, mostly living below poverty line.
As the current chairman, Pakistan led from the front to expand Saarc's ties with other regional economic blocs such as Asean, ECO and the European Union.
Shaukat Aziz will begin his tour from Colombo, where he will hold talks with the Sri Lankan leadership on matters of regional co-operation and on ways and means to promote existing bilateral ties.
He will then travel to Maldives for a day-long visit, and meet with their leaders for discussion on various aspects of Saarc and exploring avenues for increased bilateral relations.
The prime minister is due to arrive in New Delhi on November 23 where, besides talks on regional matters, he is expected to discuss with his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh the ongoing composite dialogue process between the two nuclear neighbours.
Foreign Office Spokesman Masood Khan at a weekly briefing on Thursday told reporters that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will discuss bilateral matters, including the most important issue of Kashmir.
In New Delhi, Shaukat Aziz is also scheduled to meet with the Kashmiri leadership from the Indian occupied Valley to share the progress under the ongoing peace process.
The prime minister's visit to India comes at a time when the two countries prepare to begin a second round of talks on their bilateral contentious issues, including Kashmir.
A calendar of meetings has already been agreed on the eight-point agenda item to be held in December.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's entourage includes Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon, Water and Power Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi, Railway Minister Mian Shamim Haider, Sports Culture and Youth Affairs Minister Mohammad Ajmal Khan, Minister of State for Overseas Pakistanis Tariq Azim Khan and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar.
A group of parliamentarians, businessmen and a media team will accompany the prime minister.
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