ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will embark on the second leg of his South Asian tour, covering Sri Lanka, Maldives and India, on Nov 21.

The four-day tour will be part of his planned visits to six capitals of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) member states as the outgoing chairman of the regional body.

In the first leg of his tour, the prime minister has already visited Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh from Nov 1-4, 2004.

He will first go to Sri Lanka, then the Maldives and from there he will proceed to India, diplomatic sources told Dawn on Friday.

The highlight of the tour will be the prime minister's visit to India on Nov 23, and his first meeting with his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh.

The visit acquires special significance in the backdrop of the ongoing India-Pakistan peace process and President Musharraf's recent "food for thought" on the way forward to the settlement of the Kashmir issue. The Aziz-Manmohan meeting will take place just ahead of the second round of India-Pakistan talks. Also, it will be the first interaction between India and Pakistan at the highest-level after President Musharraf's meeting with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in New York in September.

Preparations for their meeting are under way both in Islamabad and New Delhi. Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Aziz Ahmed Khan arrived here on Thursday to finalize the agenda and tie up arrangements for the forthcoming visit. He will leave for New Delhi on Monday.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will also meet Indian President Abdul Kalam and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi during his stay in Delhi. A meeting with Kashmiri leaders is also on the cards before he returns to Pakistan on Nov 24, sources said.

Officials here said that though Prime Minister Aziz would be visiting the three Saarc states in the regional grouping's context, it would have an important bilateral dimension given that it would be his first visit to these countries as the country's prime minister.

They said he would also discuss key bilateral matters with his counterparts during his three-nation visit. Some important bilateral agreements might also be firmed up during this tour.

It is a Saarc tradition that its outgoing chairperson visits all member states of the association before handing over the chair to another country.

Bangladesh will assume the chairmanship of Saarc next year at the 13th Summit to be held in Dhaka in January.