KARACHI: The Pakistan and Indian hockey officials will meet in the South Korean city of Busan later this month hoping to finally revive the much-awaited test series following a positive statement given by the Indian sports minister recently.

"The issue of reviving the Pakistan-India series will be discussed now that the Indian government has said it has no reservations about it," said Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Secretary Brig Musarratullah Khan from Lahore on Saturday.

The PHF had been making efforts to revive the home-and-away series since 2000 before finally shelving the plans earlier this year after the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) failed to get the green signal from its government. But recently Indian Minister Vikram Verma told the media that the government had no objection to their team playing against Pakistan. He said the IHF had never given any proposal of a hockey series against Pakistan and added that the government would certainly consider the idea if put forward to the ministry by the IHF.

"It is certainly a positive statement as it gives us reasons to believe that the series can be resumed," said Musarrat. He pointed out that after having made several unsuccessful attempts he was not very positive about the chances of the series taking place, but since New Delhi had softened its stance things appeared to be much better.

"We've always shown our interest in playing India. The IHF also appeared as much keen to revive the series. The only hitch has been the fact that the IHF could not get permission from their government."

The PHF secretary said hoped there'd be some kind of positive development when he met his Indian counterpart during the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Council meeting in Busan. The moot will take place on June 26 and 27.

Pakistan and India last met in a test series in 1999. Since then they've only met each other in multi-nation tournaments. Their last clash came in Sydney in the Hockey Australia Men's Challenge Tournament earlier this month.

The two arch-rivals are scheduled to cross swords again in the 2003 Champions Trophy to be held in Amsterdam in August.

The PHF have also invited India to compete in a nine-nation tournament that is scheduled to be held in Lahore in December this year.