ISLAMABAD, Sept 30: Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh will arrive here on Sunday evening aboard a special aircraft, leading a 15-member delegation for a review session of the composite dialogue with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.
The two ministers will hold a separate meeting to kick-start the dormant Pakistan-India joint commission established in 1983.
This will be the first high-level contact between the two governments after the Sept 14 Musharraf-Manmohan meeting in New York that yielded no concrete outcome.
The review session of the composite dialogue will be held at the foreign office on Monday. A major talking point at the meeting would be the Kashmir issue, it is learnt.
Mr Singh will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna and joint secretaries of the ministries of commerce, communication, tourism, home affairs and information, informed sources told Dawn on Friday.
Mr Singh’s first bilateral visit to Pakistan in February this year resulted in a breakthrough with both sides agreeing to start the Kashmir bus service.
This time around there is talk in ‘certain’ diplomatic circles about the two sides making some headway on the Siachen issue.
After two rounds of composite dialogue Pakistan is keen that there is tangible movement towards dispute resolution.
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Aziz Ahmed Khan is scheduled to arrive here late Saturday night. He will be part of the Pakistan delegation that will comprise Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan, additional secretary Asia Pacific division Ashraf Qureshi, additional secretary UN division Tariq Osman Hyder and director-general South Asia division Ibne Abbas.
A joint statement would be issued at the end of the talks on Monday.
Mr Kasuri will host a dinner in honour of Mr Singh. On Tuesday, the two foreign ministers will hold the joint commission meeting and look at ways of reviving and restructuring it.
