Islamabad: Pakistan today (Dec 4, 2003) warmly welcomed Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's decision to attend the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) summit to be held in Islamabad in January and said it would "speed up the arrangements for the summit".

Islamabad also promised positive response to India's proposal to establish hotline contacts between Coast Guards of the two countries.

Welcoming Vajpayee's decision to attend the SAARC meet, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said, "Vajpayee's confirmation would remove all doubts about his participation and Pakistan whole- heartedly welcomes it."

"The confirmation would speed up the arrangements for summit," he told reporters.

Indian Deputy High Commissioner T C A Raghavan earlier delivered the official letter from Vajpayee to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali accepting Pakistan's invitation to attend the summit to be held from January 4 to 6.

Khan also reacted positively to Indian proposal for talks between the Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (MSA) to enhance co-operation but called for some "deliberations" to work out modalities.

PTI