PM accepts Zardari's invitation to visit Pakistan

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today agreed to visit Pakistan at the invitation of President Asif Ali Zardari, who said he hopes to see him on Pakistani soil "very soon".

Emerging from his 40-minute one-on-one meeting with Zardari at his residence at Race Course Road, Singh said,
"President Zardari has also invited me to visit Pakistan. I will be very happy to visit Pakistan on mutually convenient date."

Zardari, who spoke after him, said, "We are hoping to meet on Pakistani soil very soon."

Official sources said there is no time frame attached to the meeting and underlined that such a visit will take place only after dialogue process between the two countries makes significant progress.

"We need to take the dialogue forward. And the expectation is that the dialogue process will make the kind of progress which is solid and enough to make it a very substantive visit," a source said when asked about Prime Minister's possible visit to Pakistan.

Zardari's visit is the first by a Pakistani president since 2005.