Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri met in New Delhi, a day after their foreign secretaries recommended that a dialogue initiated by the two sides this year should be continued with a view to "further deepening and broadening" bilateral engagement.

According to Indo-Asian News Service, the two foreign ministers will hold delegation-level talks Monday, the second and final day of their discussions, following which the two governments are expected to issue a joint statement indicating the roadmap for future dialogue.

A joint statement issued at the end of the talks between the two foreign secretaries Saturday said they assessed "positively" the discussions held on the eight subjects covered under the composite dialogue.

The subjects included Jammu and Kashmir, the military standoff on Siachen, the Himalayan glacier that is the world's highest battlefield, differences over navigation rights in a reservoir in Kashmir and demarcation of the maritime boundary in a muddy estuary that separates Gujarat from Pakistan's Sindh Province.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2004)