Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Friday that Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu would visit the country to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Border corridor, according to a media report on Friday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the groundbreaking ceremony of the facilities at the crossing on the Pakistan side on November 28.

Chaudhry confirmed that the former Indian cricketer would visit the country. This will be Sidhu’s second visit to Pakistan this year.

Sidhu told Roznama Express that he has gladly accepted the invitation, sent by khan for the November 28 event. He said the Pakistani premier was his friend and he will visit the country whenever he is invited by him.

“I don’t have words to express my joy,” he said.

Sidhu on Friday also welcomed the Central government’s move to construct the infrastructure for the Kartarpur corridor in Punjab.

He urged the Centre to initiate steps with the Pakistan government on working out visa formalities once the corridor is completed.

“It fills my heart with joy unspeakable on learning that the Government of India has agreed to build a corridor for pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib on 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ji.

“As a Sikh devotee and as a man committed to the cause of Punjab and its people, I am extremely grateful and indebted for the steps initiated by the Government of India,” Sidhu said in a letter to Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

He said the move will “write a new chapter of faith and love for the region” and “will act like a soothing balm for two neighbouring countries”.

This has been a long standing demand of the Sikh community across the globe and a step in this direction has brought a new ray of hope among pilgrims who are anxiously waiting for paying obeisance at the historical Gurudwara Sahib across the border, Sidhu said.

The Kartarpur corridor will enable pilgrims from India to visit the Sikh shrine located in Pakistan, close to the international border with India.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will lay the foundation stone of the project in Dera Baba Nanak area of Punjab’s Gurdaspur district on Monday.

In a significant decision, India’s Cabinet Thursday cleared a proposal to develop a corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Indian pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan.

The issue of Kartarpur Sahib came into focus after Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu visited Pakistan in August to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Khan as prime minister of that country.

After his return, Sidhu said that Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa had told him that Pakistan may open a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib.

(With inputs from agencies)