Mumbai: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on June 7 left for a 10-day visit to US and Britain during which India's fresh peace initiative with Pakistan and the global fight against terrorism are likely to top the agenda of talks with the leaders of the two countries.

The fight against terrorism would have to be worldwide, and he would talk to the leaders of the two countries on the issue as well as about the nations that aided terrorism, he said before boarding a scheduled Air India flight for New York.

The visit assumes significance as it comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's talks with US President George W Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac and Chinese President Hu Jintao in St. Petersburg last week.

He said India would continue to deal sternly with terrorism as it had done on several occasion.

Advani said relations between India and the US had changed fundamentally since the end of the cold war. Both the countries had borne the brunt of terrorist attacks and the cordial relations between them would be used to promote world peace, he added.

The Deputy Prime Minister will hold wide-ranging discussions with the US leadership and reinforce the need for Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism to create conducive atmosphere for resumption of Indo- Pak dialogue, official sources said.

Among those he is scheduled to meet in the US are Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Attorney General John Ashcroft and newly appointed Secretary for Homeland Security Tom Ridge.

A meeting with Bush may also take place although it is not scheduled so far, they said.

PTI