"I attach a lot of importance to cricket relations with India and I believe that regular cricket exchanges will help improve relations between the two countries," Shaharyar Khan told this news agency.

President Pervez Musharraf, who is chief patron of PCB, appointed Shaharyar as board chairman on Tuesday in place of retired Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia who resigned from the post earlier this month.

Shaharyar, a former foreign secretary who also served as Pakistan's ambassador to India, said the Indian team would be given a warm welcome when they tour Pakistan in February-April their first full tour since 1989.

"I view this tour as very significant," he said. "I think there will be greater responsibility on the players and team officials to be on their best behaviour and play the game in its best traditions of sportsmanship."

Pakistan has become a virtual no-go zone for touring teams because of security and safety concerns following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

New Zealand cut short their 2002 tour to Pakistan when 14 people were killed in a bomb blast outside the team's hotel in Karachi.

In the last two months, South Africa and New Zealand only agreed to tour Pakistan after the Pakistan board dropped Karachi and Peshawar as match venues.

But Shaharyar said it should be up to the PCB to decide the venues for the matches.

"It should be our decision where the visiting teams will play matches. We can't isolate our major cricket centres. But there is always room for negotiations in special circumstances," he said.

"I want to ensure that in future visiting teams don't dictate to us which venues they want to play at," he added.