Islamabad, Nov. 26: (Agencies): The time was right to resolve the long-running disputes over Kashmir and Palestine, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said today as he left for two weeks of meetings with world leaders.

Musharraf is travelling to South America ? the first Pakistani leader to do so ? and then to Washington, London and Paris to urge the West to help resolve some of the most divisive issues in the Muslim world.

?I think both ? the Palestinian dispute and the Kashmir dispute ? are absolutely ripe for resolution and we have to resolve them. That will bring considerable stability to the world,? Musharraf said on the state-run Pakistan Television.

Musharraf has long singled out the Kashmir and Palestinian disputes as root causes of terrorism among Muslims.

Raising the two issues in talks with Western leaders was an attempt by Musharraf to show Pakistanis, suspicious of his close ties to the US, that he championed Muslim causes, an analyst said.

Musharraf said he would focus his talks with George W. Bush, Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair on the implementation of his theory on enlightened moderation, which advocates steps by the Muslim world to fight forces of extremism and the West helping resolve disputes in the Muslim world.

The December 4 meeting between Musharraf and Bush comes after the Pentagon notified the US Congress of three proposed arms sales to Pakistan worth $1.2 billion, in a move that raised eyebrows in India.

Musharraf was also expected to raise Pakistan?s nearly 15-year quest for advanced F-16 fighter aircraft, the News, a Pakistani daily, reported.

Accompanied by a small team of businessmen, Musharraf first goes to Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. He said he looked forward to consolidating Pakistan?s relations with the three countries.

He will next go to Washington. He will meet French President Chirac and British Prime Minister Blair later in the tour.