Israeli Agriculture Minister Israel Katz told military radio yesterday he had been officially invited to visit Pakistan -- a Muslim country with which Israel does not have diplomatic relations -- as part of a UN delegation.
It would be the first such public visit by an Israeli minister to Pakistan, and an Israeli press report said it could herald the start of diplomatic relations between the two states.
"I have been officially invited to go to Pakistan during the month of March and I have accepted," Katz said, adding that the visit "will take place in the framework of a UN delegation" of officials in charge of farm matters.
"This visit reflects a rapprochement between the two countries, it is an important visit inasmuch as Pakistan is a Muslim atomic power," the minister said.
Katz added: "Pakistan, India and Israel are with the Americans on the same side in the fight against terrorism."
The daily Maariv newspaper said the announcement had been preceded by several secret meetings between officials of the two countries in recent months.
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan could meet with Israel's foreign minister, Sylvan Shalom, at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the paper added.
Maariv said the reported contacts between the two countries had taken place both in Europe and the US.
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