ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will embark on the second leg of his tour of three South Asian capitals on Sunday morning leading a high-powered delegation.
During his four-day trip he will be visiting Sri Lanka, Maldives and India. This will be the prime minister's first visit to these countries since his taking office in August. Although the visit is part of his tour of Saarc member states as the outgoing chairman of the regional body, it has an important bilateral dimension.
His first stop will be in Colombo where he will be received by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. From there he will travel to Male on Monday and the following day he will proceed to Delhi.
The prime minister's 60-plus member entourage will include six ministers, 10 parliamentarians, businessmen, senior foreign ministry officials, personal staff, media representatives and security personnel, it is learnt.
The cabinet members who will be accompanying him include Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Amanullah Khan Jadoon, Minister of Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi, Minister for Railways Mian Shamim Haidar, Minister of State for Overseas Pakistanis Tariq Azim Khan, and Minister for Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Muhammad Ajmal Khan.
During his regional tour, aimed at strengthening the Saarc process, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will also discuss important bilateral matters with his South Asian counterparts to add content to relations and expand cooperation in various fields.
In Colombo, he will discuss with Sri Lankan leadership his vision for revitalization of Saarc and regional security situation. His talks will also focus on ways of enhancing bilateral relations, particularly the current trade volume which does not reflect the very cordial relations that the two governments enjoy.
The two-way trade between Pakistan-Sri Lanka during 2003-2004 stood at US $146.24 million. Currently both the countries are in the process of finalizing Free Trade Agreement, which would provide more business opportunities for traders of the two countries.
The prime minister will also have an interactive session with a cross-section of Sri Lankan community in Colombo. The highlight of his South Asian tour will be his first meeting with Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in Delhi where he will arrive on a two-day visit on November 23. Sources said the duration of prime minister's official talks with his Indian counterpart will be close to an hour.
