ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: Welcoming the resumption of the composite dialogue process with India, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Thursday that it should provide both the countries an opportunity to settle their disputes.

Talking to the outgoing Indian High Commissioner Shivshankar Menon, who called on him, Mr Aziz said the recent meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was a positive development which would augur well for the settlement of disputes and improvement of relations between the two countries.

Pakistan, he said, was a peaceful country and it wanted to settle all disputes with India in a peaceful and amicable manner.

Positive settlement of the Kashmir dispute in line with the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people would help ensure peace in the region, he said.

He emphasised the need for both the countries to make all out efforts to maintain peace and resolve bilateral issues, including Sir Creek and Siachen, through dialogue.

The prime minister said sustainable peace in South Asia would have positive fallout in the region in the political, diplomatic, economic, defence and security fields. Peace was also vital to fully leverage the considerable potential of South Asia, he said.

He stressed the need for an early conclusion of the gas pipeline talks among Pakistan, Iran and India in view of the growing energy requirements in the region.

The pipeline would promote peace and prosperity by creating interdependencies and linkages, he said.

The prime minister congratulated Mr Menon on his appointment as foreign secretary of India and expressed the hope that the forthcoming meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries would provide the necessary fillip to the peace process.