It will be easy for the future government in Pakistan to maintain the peace process with India as considerable progress has been made in the composite dialogue process, outgoing Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said on Wednesday.

"I can say with confidence that so much work has been done, it will be easy for the future government to pick up the pace from there to continue the process," he told reporters at a farewell party organised for him by the foreign ministry in Islamabad.

Trade and sports links as well as people-to-people contacts with India have improved due to the composite dialogue process and confidence building measures, said Kasuri, who will complete his five-year tenure on Thursday.

Trade between Pakistan and India has increased eight-fold from $200 million to $1.6 billion and both countries have fixed a trade target of $10 billion, he pointed out.

The improvement in ties was due to extensive efforts made by the Foreign Office and through back-channel diplomacy.

"We have made a lot of progress but there is still the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir [Images] to be resolved," he said.

Referring to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, Kasuri said Pakistan is committed to the project as it will promote regional cooperation.

"We have maintained and improved our relations with all our neighbours and the major world powers," Kasuri said.

"The objective of our policy has been to build bridges of peace with our neighbours," Kasuri added.

Kasuri also hoped that the political situation in Pakistan will "improve quickly and the need for emergency will disappear".