ISLAMABAD: Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz will visit Washington later this month for the ministerial level meeting of the Strategic Dialogue.

Although no dates for the meetings have been officially announced, sources said that Mr Aziz and US Secretary of State John Kerry would be meeting on Jan 27 and 28.

It`s highly likely that the two may be meeting even before allthe working groups of the dialogue may have held their sessions thereby avoiding deliberations on trickier matters pertaining to counter-terrorism cooperation, drone attacks and aid at least at the level of experts and officials.

The two countries had agreed to resume the Strategic Dialogue, suspended since the challenging events of 2011, when Mr Kerry visited Islamabad on Aug 1. And when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met President Obama at the White House in October last, the two leaders agreed on havinga ministerial session by March 2014.

It was then agreed that the resumed dialogue would be limited to five working groups on areas of `strategic priorities` Law enforcement and counter-terrorism, economics and finance, energy, security, strategic stability and non-proliferation, and the defence consultative group.

Ticklish Issue: Three of working groups have met, while meetings for working groups on law enforcement and counter terrorism; and economics and finance have not been scheduled as yet.No reasons have been given for the delay in scheduling of the meetings of the two groups.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said that the two foreign ministers would meet to review the progress achieved in the working groups.

`If these working groups meet before the review, then the review session at the Foreign Ministers level will review their outcome as well, otherwise, they can take place afterwards at a date convenient to both sides,` Ms Aslam said about the working groups on law enforcement and counter-ter-rorism; and economics and finance.

The working group on counter-terrorism and law enforcement discusses the counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries and would also take up controversial issue of drone attacks that has been putting the relationship under stress.

Meanwhile, the working group on economics and finance would look into issues of trade, assistance and financial matters in the bilateral relationship.