ISLAMABAD, March 6: Pakistan and India have agreed on the schedule of meetings for the remaining six items of the third round of the Composite Dialogue that will start with economic and commercial talks here later this month and end with a meeting in New Delhi on promotion of friendly exchanges in June.

The meetings will followed by two review sessions, one at the foreign secretaries level and the other at the foreign ministers level in July, both in New Delhi.

Announcing the schedule at a weekly news briefing here on Monday Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said: “The third round of Composite Dialogue is crucial in moving the peace process forward. Pakistan is committed to further build upon the momentum achieved in the last two rounds.”

The third round of composite dialogue commenced with foreign secretaries level talks on peace and security and Jammu and Kashmir in New Delhi on January 17-18.

Responding to a question on expectations from the next round, the FO spokesperson said: “We do expect that we will be able to move forward on a number of issues, particularly on Siachen and Sir Creek.” She pointed out that some progress on these issues had already been made during discussions in the last round of talks.

According to the schedule announced the first meeting will be on Economic and Commercial issues on March 27-29 in Islamabad. The first day would be devoted to the Joint Study Group on Trade. The meeting on Wullar Barrage will be held on April 18-19, also in Islamabad. This will be followed by back-to-back talks on Siachen and Sir Creek in New Delhi on May 23-24 and May 25-26 respectively. The meeting on terrorism and drug trafficking will be held in Islamabad on May 30-31. Talks on promotion of friendly exchanges in various fields have been scheduled for June 1-2 in New Delhi.

The foreign secretaries will meet on July 20 and the foreign ministers on July 21 for the review meetings in New Delhi. Foreign ministers level plenary of the joint commission will be also be held in New Delhi on July 22.

Jawed Naqvi adds from New Delhi: India on Monday announced a set of eight meetings with Pakistan from March 28 to July 22 this year to go through their third round of composite dialogue.

The announcement of the dates by India comes within days of remarks by US President George W. Bush in which he said he was encouraging both countries to resolve their differences, including the Kashmir issue, amicably.

A foreign ministry announcement said the new round of India-Pakistan talks would be kicked off with a meeting in Islamabad to discuss economic and commercial cooperation between them. A meeting of the joint working group on the subject would meet a day earlier on March 27.