New Delhi (ANTARA News/AFP) - Indian and Pakistani officials met Monday to prepare the ground for foreign minister-level talks later this month in the first contacts between the neighbours since bomb blasts in Mumbai last week.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 19 people, but relations between the two rival nations have often been undermined by militant strikes in India that New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based groups.

The talks in New Delhi on Monday focused on travel and trade issues along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed region of Kashmir, Indian officials said.

Pakistani Junior Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar is due in the Indian capital on July 26 when she will hold talks with her counterpart S.M. Krishna.

India broke off its peace process with Pakistan after the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group.

Monday`s meeting would recommend "measures for strengthening and streamlining" arrangements along the de facto border, the Indian ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011