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  • Sep 8th, 2012
  • Comments Off on India, Pakistan set to sign liberal visa regime today
Pakistan and India are expected to sign agreements on liberalised visa regime and cultural exchanges during a crucial foreign ministers level talks to be held on Saturday (today). Foreign secretaries of the two countries met here at the Foreign Office on Friday to take an overview of the resumed dialogue process. Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani led Pakistan's delegation, while his Indian counterpart Ranjan Mathai led his country's delegation.

During the talks, they said that the two sides agreed on liberalised visa regime of eight categories. In this connection, an agreement was expected to be signed during foreign ministers' talks. Visa categories on which both sides agreed included: diplomatic, non-diplomatic, tourist, 36-hour transit visit, civil society, media and business visas. Under diplomatic category, the sources said, both countries will offer visas to heads of the missions and their staff members as well as family members of the diplomatic mission, while in tourists categories, visas of six months will be issued for five destinations.

Talking to reporters after the talks‚ Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani said that interaction with his Indian counterpart was positive in which the two sides had an overview of various issues. He said that both foreign secretaries would submit reports to their respective foreign ministers ahead of their talks on Saturday.

Stressing the need for both countries to resolve bilateral problems through dialogues, Jilani said that Kashmir, water distribution and Siachen were important issues for Pakistan. He said that the issue of terrorism was a common problem of the two countries and they would resolve it collectively.

The Friday interaction between the two foreign secretaries was a preparatory meeting to prepare agenda for the talks of Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar with her Indian counterpart S M Krishna, who arrived here on a three-day visit. Jilani was assisted by Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir, Director-General (South Asia) at the Foreign Office Zehra Akbari and others, while Mathai was accompanied by Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal, Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan) in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Yash Sinha and other senior officials during the talks.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012


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