NEW DELHI, July 18: Indian and Pakistani officials met here on Monday to prepare the ground for foreign minister-level talks later this month in the first contacts between the two countries since bomb blasts in Mumbai last week.

The talks focused on travel and trade issues along the Line of Control in disputed region of Kashmir, Indian officials said.

Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar is due in Delhi July 26.

Monday’s meeting would recommend “measures for strengthening and streamlining” arrangements along the Line of Control, the Indian ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

A weekly bus service ferries people now between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. A limited trade exists in locally produced items like spices, fruits and carpets.—Agencies