WASHINGTON, Aug 15: Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali is expected to visit the United States in late October, diplomatic sources told Dawn on Friday.

Mr Jamali was originally scheduled to visit the United States in September during the UN General Assembly, but the scheduled was later changed. It has since been announced that President Pervez Musharraf will address the General Assembly.

Explaining the change of plan, a senior diplomatic source told Dawn that the prime minister had not yet made a bilateral visit to the United States and the government did not want him to come for a UN session on his first visit to North America.

They said it was also not possible for the prime minister to come to Washington after the UN session because the US government did not encourage bilateral visits during the General Assembly session.

“The US president, the secretary of state and many other senior officials go to New York for the General Assembly and practically there’s nobody in Washington to visit,” the diplomat said. “That’s why bilateral visits are not possible during the annual UN meeting,” he added.