rime Minister Shaukat Aziz Monday said that Pakistan was going to join an international land route cable system with India through the Wagah border post to improve the connectivity with the neighbouring countries and rest of the world.

Aziz said: "All the work in this regard has been completed at our end. We are just waiting for the Indian government's permission to its telecom carriers for that, and we hope the permission will be granted soon," according to Online news agency.

The prime minister was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the South East Asia Middle East Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE-4) cable, which was being laid following a construction and maintenance agreement in March last year among a consortium of 16 international telecom companies.

The new cable system links Asia with Europe via the Indian sub-continent and the Middle East. It has terminal stations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France.