Islamabad, December 23:

India and Pakistan today agreed to conduct a joint survey of part of their mutual border to resolve a lingering territorial dispute that has hindered oil and gas exploration.

The agreement was made in the final round of two-day talks between Pakistani and Indian officials in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital, Islamabad, the government said.

The two sides “worked out the technical details of the joint survey in an amicable manner” and agreed to begin the identification of the border line in the Sir Creek border zone from January 15, it said in a statement.

The talks on the Sir Creek — a strip of marshland that flows into the Arabian Sea between Pakistan’s southern Sindh province and India’s western Gujarat state — are part of a peace process and warming of relations between the South Asian nuclear-armed neighbors that began in 2004.

“It was agreed to verify the outermost points of coastlines of both countries during the joint survey,” the statement said.

Sir Creek is one of eight contentious and unresolved issues between Pakistan and India — including the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir — that Islamabad and New Delhi have been discussing as part of the peace dialogue.

Although the oil and gas-rich Sir Creek is not considered a priority, the lack of a well-demarcated border remains a problem.

Both Pakistan and India have accused each other of trespassing and have arrested fishermen who inadvertently crossed into the other’s territorial waters.

Pakistani and Indian officials last discussed the dispute in New Delhi in December 2005. In another sign of rapprochement yesterday, India freed 57 Pakistani fishermen and other prisoners, and Pakistan released 50 Indian detainees, also including fishermen.