Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh had his first ever meeting in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province Monday with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.  

A press note from the Indian Embassy in China described the meeting as "warm and productive." The meeting, the first ever after the inauguration of the new Indian government in May, occurred over a working lunch here, it said.

The two ministers are here to attend the third foreign ministers' meeting of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), due to open Tuesday.

The press note said this was their first direct meeting following upon the several telephone conversations between them and also the first high-level direct political contact after the new government took office in India.

It said the two ministers reviewed the progress in all aspects of bilateral relations including Jammu and Kashmir, and implementation of the framework for the dialogue process worked out in February by the foreign secretaries of the two countries.

They assessed positively the progress in the discussions held, including at the meetings between Indian border security force and Pakistan Rangers, the Narcotics Control Authorities of the two countries, and the Expert Level dialogue on nuclear confidence-building measures, the press note said.

They welcomed the agreement worked out in the meeting, which concluded Sunday, to establish and upgrade communications, and work for specific confidence-building measures, including through an agreement on advance notification of missile tests, it said.

India and Pakistan have also called for regular working level meetings to be held among all the nuclear powers to discuss issues of common concern, the press note said.

The press note said they reiterated that they looked forward to the meeting of the foreign secretaries scheduled for June 27-28, and to concrete outcomes from that meeting so as to take forward the present process.

The two ministers agreed to remain in regular touch and provide continuous political guidance to the on-going process, according to the press note. They expect to meet each other on several occasions over the next two months, said the press note.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2004)