Pakistan Tuesday invited India's prime minister to a regional summit in Islamabad as the nuclear neighbors struggle to revive a stalled peace process.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed -- one of the first just two Pakistani cabinet ministers allowed into India in more than two years -- this week shook hands with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at a regional information ministers conference.

"It was a short, sweet, smart message I have given him -- we are awaiting his...summit visit," Ahmed told reporters later. "The people of Pakistan have a lot of expectations."

In what analysts saw as a symbolic gesture, Vajpayee delayed his departure for an official visit to Russia, Tajikistan and Syria to open the third South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) information ministers conference.

Leaders of the seven-nation grouping -- which is struggling for relevance -- are due to meet in Islamabad in January for a summit delayed a year by tensions between leading members India and Pakistan which brought them close to war over Kashmir.

Vajpayee's presence in Islamabad is widely seen as critical to advancing the peace process he started in Kashmir in April, which was taken forward by Pakistan before bogging down over continued violence in Kashmir and the pace of progress.

Ahmed told reporters late Monday night that only 78-year-old Vajpayee had the experience and skill needed on the Indian side.

"If he can take any bold step then things can be worked out," he said. "Otherwise, it is all darkness."

Typically indirect, Vajpayee did not mention Pakistan once in his 10-minute speech to the select audience of ministers and officials in a heavily guarded building near parliament.

But he urged SAARC members to foster social and economic links to fight prejudice and "enhance confidence and trust."

"There is an overwhelming desire for friendship and cooperation at the level of the people of our region," he said. "We as politicians should respond to this demand."

Ahmed and Education Minister Zubaida Jalal -- in New Delhi for a separate global education conference -- are the first Pakistani cabinet ministers to visit India since a failed summit between Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf in 2001.

Their visit comes soon after India rebuffed Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri's planned visit to personally invite Vajpayee to the leaders summit.

Formed in 1985, SAARC also includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

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