Top US official visiting India, Pakistan

Washington: US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to India and Pakistan December 7-10 to discuss key political, economic, and security issues with government officials and non-governmental experts.

Blinken, who will be in New Delhi December 7-8, will meet with senior Indian officials to discuss a range of bilateral and global economic and security issues, including ongoing US-India cooperation to advance mutual prosperity and regional stability, state department announced.

He will also visit a local business incubator as part of his ongoing outreach to build new bridges between policymakers and innovators, it said.

Blinken will travel to Islamabad December 8-10 to represent the US at the Heart of Asia ministerial.

There he will discuss efforts to deepen regional cooperation on the US goal of a fully peaceful and stable Afghanistan, as well as efforts to increase security and prosperity in the region as a whole, the announcement said.

While in Islamabad, Blinken will also meet with senior Pakistani officials to follow up on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif`s October visit to Washington and discuss ways to enhance US-Pakistan "multidimensional relationship."