New Delhi: Amid Indo-Pak peace overtures, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today (Dec 4) confirmed his participation in the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit in Islamabad to his Pakistani counterpart Zaffarullah Khan Jamali.

In a letter to Jamali, the Prime Minister confirmed his participation at the SAARC summit, External Affairs Ministry spokesman said in a statement in New Delhi.

He said the letter was delivered to Pakistan Foreign Office this morning.

The Prime Minister's letter was in response to a letter of invitation from Jamali on August 6, the spokesman said.

Vajpayee's trip to Pakistan takes place at a time when the two countries are in the midst of putting in place confidence-building measures to improve ties.

Indian officials have said while the Prime Minister was bound to come across Pakistani leaders at such a forum, there was no likelihood of any substantive talk on bilateral issues taking place between them.

While welcoming the positive response from Pakistan to its proposals, New Delhi has stuck to the view that dialogue on outstanding issues could be held only when Pakistan took credible steps to end infiltration and cross-border terrorism.

The SAARC Summit is slated to take place from January 4 to 6 when leaders from the seven-member grouping including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives besides India and Pakistan participate.

Vajpayee had last visited Pakistan in February 1999 when he had undertaken the historic bus ride to Lahore and signed with the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif the historic Lahore Declaration.

New Delhi is looking for substantive progress on issues like preferential trading arrangement and the free trade agreement among SAARC leaders to boost regional economic cooperation.

PTI