US Deputy Secretary of State Mr Richard Armitage will embark on a mission to try to cool seething tensions between India and Pakistan on June 4th, the State Department said today.
Mr Armitage's trip has been planned for several weeks, but officials had not previously given any firm dates. It was not immediately clear which country Mr Armitage would visit first.
State Department deputy spokesman Mr Philip Reeker, who made the announcement, said that Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell today spoke three times to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who will make his own trip to South Asia next week.
"Amid a flurry of telephone diplomacy, Mr Powell, who is currently in Moscow with President George W. Bush, also spoke twice to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf," Mr Reeker said, confirming an earlier report from Islamabad.
AFP