Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Sunday that President Asif Ali Zardari would visit Afghanistan in the first week of January, 2009.

The official APP news agency quoted Qureshi as saying that he hoped that the visit would bring about a pleasant change in bilateral relationship between the two countries.

"We hope it will give us a breakthrough in improving ties with the neighboring country and it would be a pleasant change after relationships suffered some tensions in past," he said.

Zardari was scheduled to visit Afghanistan last Friday and all arrangements were finalized. However, it had to be postponed due to bad weather conditions, Qureshi said.

As part of the preliminary proceedings for Zardari's visit to Afghanistan, the Pakistani foreign minister met with his Afghan counterpart Rangin Dadfar Spanta, and bilateral negotiations proceeded ahead positively and in a cordial manner, according to Qureshi.