ISLAMABAD, Dec 31: President Gen Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to open a high-profile Pakistan-US symposium on security issues, here on Jan 10.

The two-day event has been jointly organised by Pakistan’s National Defence College (NDC) and the Washington-based National Defence University (NDU), the key training institute for the American armed forces.

Defence Minister Rao Sikandar will make the opening remarks on the occasion while Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri will deliver the keynote address.

The symposium, that was twice postponed owing to the post 9/11 scenario, will bring together eminent Pakistani and American representatives of elite institutions and experts working on national security issues.

Robin L. Raphel, who now heads the NDU, will be leading the US delegation, which will include four former US ambassadors, Robert Oakley being one of them. Other members of the team are Teresita Schaffer and R. Grant Smith.

The symposium is being held at a time when questions pertaining to Afghanistan, US anti-terror operation, Iraq, the North Korea nuclear link, Pakistan-India tension and Kashmir dispute, that directly or indirectly involve Pakistan, are on top of the international agenda.

Former AJK president Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, former COAS Gen Jehangir Karamat (Rtd), former foreign secretary Najmuddin Shaikh, Institute of Strategic Studies Director-General Dr Shireen Mazari, Islamabad Policy Research Institute President Dr Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema and columnist Nasim Zehra will be among the distinguished Pakistani speakers and discussants.

The four key topics to be addressed by panelists are: Changing Interests of Major Powers in South Asia, Afghanistan and Central Asia; Reality of Nuclear S. Asia; Resolution of Kashmir Issue; and The Future of US-Pakistan Relations in the Next Decade.

Robert Oakley will chair the session on the Indo-Pak nuclear arms and missile race while Dr Shireen Mazari will make a presentation on the subject.

Sardar Abdul Qayyum will make a presentation on the Kashmir dispute; on how Pakistan, India and Kashmiris can create a viable peace process facilitated by the US.