And in an expected goodwill gesture, New Delhi has offered one-year multi-entry visas to certain categories of Pakistanis -- details will be announced soon -- which will be valid for all Indian cities. This will also free visitors from the humiliating procedure of reporting at local police stations. Pakistan, officials said, has decided, in principle, to reciprocate.

Singh and Aziz have agreed to meet again after the next round of the ``composite and integrated dialogue'' between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, to be held for six weeks in New Delhi and Islamabad from May 1999. Aziz said that Kashmir would be included in this dialogue.

A joint statement that Aziz described as a ``road map'' for furthering the Lahore Declaration was issued by the two sides afterthe meeting which was held on the sidelines of the SAARC foreign ministers' conference.

It said the two ministers discussed and ``agreed on the urgency of taking concrete measures for the implementation of the Lahore declaration, the Memorandum of Understanding and the Joint Statement issued during the Lahore summit.''

``In this context, the ministers agreed that the composite and integrated dialogue process must be intensified,'' the statement said.

Singh told reporters that the schedules detailed in the joint statement were a ``clear demonstration of the direction, movement and moving forward on the Lahore Declaration and the spirit of Lahore.''

According to the schedule agreed upon, over the next two months, the committee of experts will meet to discuss implementation of the confidence-building measures listed in the memorandum of understanding signed between the two foreign secretaries at Lahore on February 21.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of state of both countries will also meet in April1999 to formalise the agreement on the release of civilian prisoners and to discuss other humanitarian matters.

Delegations of experts from India will visit Pakistan in April this year to identify areas of co-operation in information technology and on issues related to Y2K and the World Trade Organisation.

Meanwhile, the specifics on relaxation of visa rules by both countries will be announced by the two governments shortly, according to the joint statement.

If the Lahore declaration formed the core of today's meetings, it also found mention in the report adopted at the end of the meeting today. Indian officials who had opposed the inclusion expressed satisfaction at the manner in which it was finally mentioned.

India had insisted it was a bilateral matter for which there was no place in SAARC, while Pakistan stressed that as it was not a contentious issue, and moreover one of significance to the region, there should be no reluctance to include it. Pakistan had its way but it took all the formulationskills of diplomats and ministers to work out a face-saving deal for India. It was finally hammered out through one of the items in the Lahore Declaration itself, which reiterates the commitment of both India and Pakistan to the goals and objectives of SAARC.

``In the Lahore Declaration, there was a pointed reference to SAARC. The SAARC foreign ministers took the view that it would be good to reciprocate this gesture,'' said Sri Lankan foreign minister and chairman of the SAARC council of ministers Lakshman Kadirgamar.

The reference to the declaration in the Standing Committee report now reads as follows: ``The Committee noted with approval the re-affirmation of the SAARC goals and objectives in the Lahore Declaration adopted last month by India and Pakistan with a view to promoting the welfare of the people of South Asia.''

To India's further satisfaction, the report dropped reference to the need for a mechanism for institutionalising informal political consultations at SAARC. Instead, it reiteratedwhat had already been incorporated in the 1998 Colombo summit declaration, the idea that informal consultations could be ``useful'' in promoting the objectives of SAARC.

Kadirgamar emphasised that SAARC would not discuss bilateral or contentious issues. ``The SAARC charter remains untouched. We have only reiterated the desirability of informal consultations, not putting such items on the agenda,'' he said.

The concept of creating a mechanism for informal political consultations was suggested by a cross-SAARC body known as the Group of Eminent Persons (GEP), but the council of ministers have put off a decision on all their recommendations which encompass a vision for SAARC in the new millennium.Kadirgamar said the report was too vast and as it incorporated the views of each of the members, it was ``bound to be controversial''.

The foreign secretaries have been asked by the ministers to get to work again on the vast GEP report and to prepare a more distilled version of it by the time the ministers meetagain in New York this September.

The meeting was also unable to arrive at a consensus on a time-schedule for the implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Association (SAFTA), which the GEP had suggested should happen by 2008. However, the treaty itself is to be signed by 2001.