Washington: Initiating steps to ease Indo-Pak tension and stop cross-border infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir would top the agenda of US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage during his forthcoming visit to the sub-continent, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has said.

Though Armitage's exact itinerary was still being worked out, he is planning to travel from May 5 to 11 to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan and preparations were underway, Boucher told reporters on April 23.

Elaborating the major aims of Armitage's visit, he said, "India and Pakistan, each of which represents for us an important relationship, there are plenty of bilateral issues and then there is also the relationship between India and Pakistan, looking for more steps that can be taken to ease the tensions, stop the infiltration and look towards a dialogue between the two.

"So without getting more specific, at this point we will see where we are when he actually goes. But there is always ways to further that process that I am sure he will want to discuss," he said.

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"We have a strong and continuing interest in our relationships with South Asian countries and in promoting peace and stability in the region. Deputy Secretary Armitage will travel to further those goals," he said.

Each of his individual stops, said Boucher, is important for the relationships (of the US with those countries). He has a chance to push forward the political and reconstruction process that is ongoing in Afghanistan, he added.

PTI