ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: France’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin will arrive here from New Delhi on Saturday (today) on his first-ever trip to Pakistan.

Mr Villepin, who has served in Washington and New Delhi, the two strategically important world capitals for Pakistan, will lead a high-level delegation. “The delegation will have six to eight principal members,” diplomatic sources told Dawn on Friday.

During his day trip to the capital, Mr Villepin will call on President Gen Pervez Musharraf and hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Inamul Haq and other senior officials here. Bilateral and regional issues, with particular focus on Pakistan-India standoff, are likely to figure in discussions between the two sides. Afghanistan will also be on the agenda.

The French foreign ministry last week said that the subjects to be addressed in Islamabad “will concern overall our bilateral relations and the major international and regional issues of the day.”

Officials at the foreign ministry remained tight-lipped about Pakistan’s expectations on the eve of the French FM’s visit to the region.

“We don’t want to pre-judge,” was the response given by a senior official when contacted by Dawn.

The foreign ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan also preferred not to comment.

The French dignitary’s visit comes almost a week after the US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s peace mission to the region.

On the bilateral front, France’s defence contract with the Pakistan Navy is likely to top the agenda, with the question of if and when the construction of Agosta submarine would resume still looming large. Work on the submarine was put on hold following the May 8 terrorist attack in Karachi that killed 11 French employees involved in the construction work and wounded another two dozen.

In 1994, France signed an accord with Pakistan for the sale of three Agosta-90B submarines. Under the contract, the submarines were to be constructed at the Karachi naval shipyard, involving important transfer of technology.

At the time of the terrorist attack in Karachi, work on the second submarine was in progress. Since the attack, there has been speculation that the remaining submarine may be built and assembled in France.

The French foreign minister will hold a news conference in the afternoon after his meetings here.