NEW DELHI, 20 September 2004 — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left yesterday on a nine-day trip to the United States and Britain and said he would push forward dialogue with rival Pakistan, stress his commitment to economic reforms and lobby for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Singh will address the UN General Assembly in New York where he will also hold his first meetings with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and US President George W. Bush.

Manmohan said yesterday he will use his first meeting with Musharraf this month to push forward a cautious peace process between the two nuclear rivals.

Manmohan plans to meet Musharraf on the sidelines of the 59th United Nations General Assembly session in New York as the neighbors struggle to resolve serious differences over the disputed region of Kashmir in peace talks.

“A meeting with President Musharraf is envisaged. This will be a further step in the ongoing dialogue process with Pakistan,” Manmohan told reporters before leaving on his first trip to the United States and Britain since becoming prime minister in May in a shock election result.

Musharraf, who left for New York from the Pakistani capital yesterday, echoed Manmohan’s sentiments.

Though ties between India and Pakistan have improved since a military standoff over Kashmir in 2002, they have made little headway in settling their dispute over the Himalayan territory, the cause of two of their three wars.

In the latest gesture, India said on Saturday it has eased visa rules for some Pakistani nationals. The new visa regime eases restrictions on accredited Pakistani journalists, academics, doctors accompanying patients, and people over 65. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan welcomed the step and said Islamabad would respond to it. “We appreciate the spirit behind these steps which is for the promotion of people to people contact of both the countries,” he said.

Analysts say the Manmohan-Musharraf meeting could give impetus to a sluggish peace process.

“Both parties would look for reassurance — Pakistan on dialogue on Kashmir and related gestures from Delhi on the issue; India will look to Pakistan to do more to curb cross-border terrorism,” said defense analyst C. Rajamohan.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of fomenting violence in Indian Kashmir. Pakistan denies the charge. At his meeting with Bush tomorrow, Manmohan said he would focus on pushing for more economic and technology cooperation.

“Both our countries are determined to endow our vital relationship with greater content, particularly in economic and high-technology fields.”

Ahead of the meeting, Washington lifted decades-old export curbs on equipment for India’s commercial space program and nuclear power facilities.

The curbs aimed to prevent the use of technology for military purposes and date from the Cold War, when the US regarded India as a Soviet ally.

They were strengthened when Washington imposed trade sanctions after India tested nuclear devices in 1998.

Rajamohan said Manmohan, who heads the Congress party-led coalition backed by communist parties, would like to send a signal that New Delhi’s recent closeness to the US would continue despite the change in government.

“The lifting of export curbs has prepared the stage well for the first meeting between Bush and Manmohan Singh,” Rajamohan said. “It also shows that change in government in India does not impact on the enduring basis for Indo-US ties.”

Manmohan also said he would also lobby for India to win a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, a proposal which he said is gaining increasing international support.

Brazil, Germany and Japan are also pressing to join the current five veto-wielding members of the Security Council and press reports have said the four candidates are supporting one another’s bids.

A high-level delegation is accompanying the premier which includes External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, National Security Adviser J. N. Dixit, T.K.A. Nair, principal secretary to the prime minister and other senior officials.

He was seen off yesterday at his official residence by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, his Cabinet colleagues, three service chiefs and several top officials. — Additional input from Agencies