Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday he dreamt of breaking down barriers in South Asia so that people could have breakfast in India, lunch in Pakistan and dinner in Afghanistan.

Singh, speaking days before Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee visits Islamabad for talks, reaffirmed his desire for a peace pact with Pakistan.

He said he earnestly hoped that relations between the two countries become so friendly, and that they build such a high level of trust, that they could agree on a treaty of peace, security and friendship.

"I dream of a day when, while retaining our respective national identities, one can have breakfast in Amritsar, lunch in Lahore and dinner in Kabul," he said, referring to cities in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively.

"That is how my forefathers lived. That is how I want our grandchildren to live," Singh told a business conference.

Singh, who was born in a village which is now in Pakistan, had first proposed a peace pact with Pakistan in March to replace decades of hostility with a common quest for progress.

A peace process between the two countries suffered a major setback after July train bombings in India's financial hub of Mumbai that were blamed on Pakistan's military spy agency and a Islamist militant group based in that country. Pakistan denied it.

New Delhi has, however, returned to peace talks it suspended after the bombings and the two countries are setting up a joint agency to fight terrorism.

India and Pakistan launched new moves to make peace in 2003 after coming close to what would have been their fourth war. A new round of peace talks began a year later but have made slow progress, particularly over the Kashmir dispute.

Although trade and cultural ties have improved since 2003, diplomats and foreign affairs analysts say they are far from fulfilling their potential.

Singh urged Indian and Pakistani businessmen to "strengthen the hands" of politicians to promote peace, security and friendship in the region.

"In the increasingly globalized and integrated world we live in, political borders are no longer economic and social barriers," he said.

(China Daily via agencies January 9, 2007)