December 28, 2002	Saturday	Shawwal 23, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 27: Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi’s visit to the country next month has been cancelled because of scheduling problems, government officials said on Friday.

Pakistan was informed of the cancellation on Thursday when the Japanese ambassador visited the Foreign Office, Dawn learnt.

While diplomatic sources did not outright rule out the possibility of the cancellation being linked to the alleged nuclear cooperation with North Korea, the foreign affairs ministry categorically denied the existence of such a linkage.

Diplomatic sources confirmed the ministry’s position that the cancellation of Minister Kawaguchi’s visit would have no impact on any economic cooperation agreement.

The officials said the minister had also postponed visits to some European destinations.

The visit, scheduled for Jan 6 to 7, was part of her South Asian region sojourn, that included India and Sri Lanka. The visits to India and Sri Lanka are still on.

Sources said Japanese foreign ministers had not been to India and Sri Lanka for more than five years but they had visited Pakistan twice in the last year.