Hinting that President Pervez Musharraf might not attend the SAARC summit in India, Pakistan said on Thursday it would instead prefer Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit the country first.
"The President of Pakistan has already visited India in 2005. It is the turn of Prime Minister Singh to visit Pakistan. It will be considered more appropriate for the President to visit India after the prime minister paid a return visit," Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed M Kasuri told PTI in an interview.
Ahead of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's two-day visit to invite Musharraf to attend the SAARC summit as he is the Executive President, Kasuri said according to the Pakistani system both the President and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz could attend high-level international meets depending on their choice.
"Do not read too much into who attends because either can attend. First let the invitation come, then you can ask the question at that stage who it is addressed to," he said.
Kasuri said Pakistan was ready to sign four agreements including one for a liberalised visa regime if India was prepared to do so during Mukherjee's visit as it has already completed the required internal exercise.
"Pakistan is ready to sign the agreements, I can say with authority. We in favour of more liberalised visa regime. We are prepared to sign an agreement on that," he said.