February 18, 2004 13:29 IST
Foreign Secretary Shashank on Tuesday met his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Khokar in Islamabad to finalise the timeframe for commencing talks.
Joint secretaries of the two countries had on Monday reached a "broad understanding" on the issue.
The basis for the talks is in line with the 1997 agreement between the two countries, when they agreed on an eight-point agenda to be taken up at two levels.
It was then agreed that the foreign secretaries would discuss J&K and peace and security.
The other six issues were to be taken up at the secretary and other levels.
These included Siachen, the Tulbul Navigation Project, terrorism, drug trafficking, economic and commercial cooperation and promotion of friendly exchanges in various fields.
