Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri will visit India to personally hand out the invitation to the SAARC summit in January.

He will also visit five other SAARC nations.

He will visit Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka this week, and India, the Maldives and Bhutan on a second trip at a later date, foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan said.

He did not specify dates for the second round of visits, including India.

Pakistan is hosting the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit from January 4-6 in its capital Islamabad.

"The minister will deliver the invitations to the leaders of the three countries on behalf of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali," Khan said.

Khan said the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India will meet later this month in New York.

Agencies