NEW DELHI, Sept. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- India and Pakistan began Saturday talks here to prepare the ground for two days of ministerial dialogue from Sunday aimed at normalizing ties between the two countries.

    India's Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Khokhar met at Hyderabad House to prepare the agenda for talks between their foreign ministers, K. Natwar Singh and Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, the Indo-Asian News Service reported.

    Khokhar, on arrival, told reporters that he viewed the talks "positively" and said while the dialogue process is important, "time is also important."

    "We will have a joint review of the entire gamut of the composite dialogue process and prepare the agenda" for the ministerial meeting, he said.

    The foreign ministers of the two countries will review the progress of the first round of what is called the Composite Dialogue Process the two countries had initiated early this year and concluded in August.

    Kasuri arrives here Saturday afternoon for the talks.

    The eight-point dialogue aimed at resolving all outstanding bilateral issues including Kashmir was revived after a gap of six years in January.

    The issues covered under the dialogue process range from Kashmir, Siachen, the Himalayan glacier that is the world's highest battlefield to demarcation of the maritime boundary in a muddy estuary that separates Gujarat state in west India from Pakistan's Sindh Province. Enditem