Thursday, September 1 2005 14:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: The Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan today (Sept 1, 2005) held talks in Islamabad to review the progress in the Composite Dialogue Process and to chalk out a strategy to give a further push to the peace initiatives.

During their two-day talks, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan are also expected to set the agenda for the New York meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf on September 14.

The Indian delegation at the talks included High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Menon, Deputy High Commissioner T C A Raghavan and Joint Secretary in the Foreign Secretary Office Syed Akbaruddin.

Besides Khan, others representing the Pakistani side were Tariq Usman Haider, Ashraf Qureshi, Zamir Akram, all Additional Secretaries, Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Aziz Ahmed Khan and Foreign Office spokesman Naeem Khan.

The Indian delegation is likely to call on President Musharraf and Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during its stay here.

The two sides will review the progress made on the eight issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, peace and security, Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), Siachen and Sir Creek, mentioned in the Composite Dialogue Framework.

They may also consider a changed format to carry forward the process to address all outstanding issues.

Besides reviewing the progress made on the key issues, they will also take stock of the relationship and outline the course to move forward the dialogue process.