Bangalore: Asserting that the peace initiatives with Pakistan had paid off so far and made the country's position stronger, Defence Minister George Fernandes today (Apr 3, 2004) expressed his willingness to visit the neighbouring nation if he is invited by the Pakistan Government.

"Though I have no plans to go there right now, I will definitely go to Pakistan if I am invited in the near future. Let us see, I have no reservations on that," Fernandes told reporters in Bangalore.

He said relationship with Pakistan has seen improvement since the peace initiative.

"Besides lowering of the border tension, movement of people and delegations between the two countries has increased, generating tremendous goodwill in the region," Fernandes said and pointed at the good response by Pakistani people to the Indian cricket team.

Downplaying the comments of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the peace dialogue, he said both the countries were moving in the right direction and a road map had been drawn to take it to the secretary's level in the next stage and pointed to the subsequent clarification by Pakistan Foreign Minister on the issue.

"I do not see any contradiction in Pakistan over the peace process. Even if it is there, we do not have concrete information on that. We should not be worried over such hiccups," Fernandes said.