New Delhi, November 11
Amid strain in ties with Islamabad, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will meet Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz tomorrow evening on the margins of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Gurgaon.

Ahead of the crucial meeting, Khurshid was quoted as saying in an interview to an Australian newspaper that the new government in Islamabad was grappling with a very difficult situation. ''Our view is that we should give them time and benefit of doubt but not at our cost," he added.

Khurshid also did not appear hopeful in terms of deliverables from his meeting with Aziz. ''If you look at the ground reality and you look at the result of our meetings, it is very disappointing. Particularly in recent times, meetings have been somewhat disappointing if not counter-productive," he said.

Khurshid said India would be able to say there was "adequate evidence" of Pakistan's intent to move forward on bilateral ties if it was "able to address the issue of dismantling of terrorist infrastructure that is targeted at India" and "some accountability is shown on what happened in Mumbai (26/11 terror attack) through the legal proceedings that are under way".

Tomorrow's talks between Khurshid and Aziz will be the first high-level contact between India and Pakistan after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York in September on the fringes of the UN General Assembly. Hours after his arrival here yesterday, Aziz held separate talks with various Kashmiri separatist leaders, which angered India. 

New Delhi, November 11
A two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of Foreign Ministers began today at which both India and Pakistan called for greater cooperation between the two continents so as to respond more effectively to global challenges.

“The future of ASEM lies in taking the significance of this forum beyond select areas to a more comprehensive effort of partnership between Europe and Asia, a partnership that is anchored in bringing together our people, our economies, our strengths, all of which would allow us to build a more effective multilateral response to current challenges,’’ External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said in his opening remarks at the meeting, being held at Gurgaon. Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan PM’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs, in his statement, said that at a time when the world economy was facing multiple crises, ASEM must play a robust role between Asia and Europe in the economic, social and related fields. The forum, he said, must ensure that the coherence and strength of policy responses were commensurate with the complexity and magnitude of multiple challenges faced by the international community. Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who inaugurated the meet, pointed out that the international community was facing a degree of unprecedented sophistication in non-traditional security threats. These transcended national borders and traditional patterns and necessitated considerably higher levels of comprehension and cooperation. Ansari was of the view that ASEM members should endeavour to take the grouping beyond a forum for political dialogue only, make it reach out to the people of the two continents and create wider stake-holding amongst economic patterns and civil society. The meeting is being attended by 36 Foreign Ministers from Asian and European countries, twelve Deputy Ministers and two Vice Ministers.