Jakarta, July 2 (PTI): External affairs minister K. Natwar Singh met US secretary of state Colin Powell and Pakistan foreign minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri on the sidelines of the Asean Regional Forum today.

At their second meeting in a month, which lasted 12 minutes, Singh and Powell discussed a range of issues, including the United Progressive Alliance government’s foreign policy and the situation in Iraq. They also talked about the Nato meet in Istanbul, the latest situation in Afghanistan and developments in South Asia, ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said.

Singh had met Powell on June 10 during his visit to Washington to attend the funeral of former US President Ronald Reagan.

The foreign minister also took the Indo-Pak peace process forward by holding talks with Kasuri for the second time in less than a fortnight. “We have taken it further here, we will take it further in Islamabad and then when he (Kasuri) comes to New Delhi in August,” Singh said after their 10-minute meeting.

“We continued the discussions that we had in China (on June 21). The foreign minister and I will meet again in two weeks’ time and I have requested him to come to Delhi in August. We will carry this further.”

Asked if he was optimistic about the peace process after today’s talks, Singh said: “I don’t term it as optimistic or pessimistic. One has to be realistic.”

Kasuri said: “Basically, you cannot make significant progress in one meeting but the fact that we did develop a level of trust is helpful.”

Earlier in the day, the two leaders had walked into the forum meeting hand in hand.

Singh also held bilateral talks with his counterparts, Alexander Downer of Australia, Hasan Wirazuda of Indonesia and U Win Aung of Myanmar, focusing on these countries’ relations with India.