Pakistan's new prime minister Shaukat Aziz will have his first meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next month when he comes here as chairman of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported Monday.

He is arriving here during the second half of November as chairman of SAARC and on this occasion bilateral meetings with Indian leaders will also be held, the PTI quoted Pakistan High Commission spokesman Rai Riaz Hussain as saying.

Aziz will travel to five other countries, members of the seven-nation SAARC grouping, before Pakistan hands over the SAARC chairmanship to Bangladesh at the Dhaka summit in January 2005.

The Singh-Aziz talks are expected to provide further momentum to the ongoing composite dialogue process on Kashmir, peace and security including Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) and other outstanding issues.

Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf met in New York last month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and pledged to carry forward the peace process.

The two sides have lined up a series of meetings beginning November end and December to discuss eight identified issues including nuclear and conventional CBMs as also on all aspects of commencement of the proposed Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.

The two prime ministers will get a chance to meet again during the Dhaka summit.

Source: Xinhua< /em>