The two sides had agreed to set up this mechanism when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf met for the first time after the Mumbai blasts in Havana last September.

The External Affairs Minister, who arrives here tomorrow, will first meet Musharraf, then Pakistan PM Shaukat Aziz in the afternoon followed by a bilateral meeting with counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. Both foreign ministers will use the meeting to review the progress made on all issues including Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek in the last round of the Composite Dialogue.

Mukherjee is expected to raise Siachen with Musharraf as he was the one who had indicated, in New Delhi two tears ago, that authentication of troop positions shouldn’t be a problem. India will also work on Pakistan to ease the current restrictive visa regime. New Delhi had suggested discussions on waiving all police-reporting requirements and restrictions on cities but Islamabad isn’t too warm to the idea.