Khurshid also has plans to have talks with the visiting Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and convey to her that the Government is keen to table the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Bill in the forthcoming winter session of the Indian Parliament.

Aziz has also sought a meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

When asked about the Aziz’s proposed meeting with Dr Singh and Khurshid, the Spokesperson of the Indian External Affairs Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin said ; “we have received the request. But his meeting is yet to be scheduled.”

However Aziz will have a chance meeting Khurshid at the margins of the 11th ASEM foreign ministers’ meeting.

Akbaruddin clarified that further talks with Pakistan will “flow from the outcome of meeting of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the sidelines of the 68th UN General Assembly recently and that outcome was a precondition for moving ahead in terms of our bilateral engagement depending on peace and tranquility on the Line of Control (LoC).”

According to sources Aziz also plans to meet separatist leaders of Kashmir.

Khurshid will have bilateral meetings with as many as 8 foreign ministers on Sunday who have come in advance to participate in the 11th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of foreign ministers on November 11-12. Among the foreign ministers with whom Kurshid is slated to have bilateral meetings are Titus Corlatean of Romania, Linas Linkevics of Lithuania, Radoslaw Sikorski of Poland, Janos Martonyi of Hungary, George Vella of Malta, Ioannis Kasoulides of Cyprus, Jan Kohout of Czech Republic and Borge Brende of Norway. Bilateral meetings with foreign ministers of other countries are being scheduled.

ASEM was founded in 1996 and India joined this group in 2007. At present ASEM represents 60% world's population, 52% of global GDP and nearly 68% of global trade.

This would be one of the largest multilateral meeting to be hosted by India in recent times both in terms of scale and significance, with 36 foreign ministers and 12 deputy foreign ministers from Asia and Europe participating. All the 51 members of ASEM and two regional organizations – European Commission and ASEAN Secretariat - will be represented in the meeting.

This is also the first time that India would be hosting a major ASEM ministerial meeting since it joined the group in 2007.

The 11th ASEM foreign ministers’ meeting will be inaugurated by the Vice President of India M Hamid Ansari on November 11 and will be chaired by the Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. The theme of the meeting is ‘ASEM : Bridge to Partnership for Growth and Development’

India is pushing for a fresh approach that would re-orient discussions in ASEM meetings from dialogue to actual tangible cooperation, thereby taking ASEM to the next level of maturity. ASEM members are to discuss modalities for taking further specific initiatives for enhancing cooperation. The list includes areas such as disaster management and mitigation, renewable energy, small and medium enterprises, water and waste management, education and skill development and also food security.

There will be a new format for discussions with two plenary sessions on day one, followed by a retreat on day two where leaders will meet without aides. The themes for the two plenary sessions are – ‘Economic Growth and Sustainable Development : Challenges and Opportunities in Asia and Europe’ and ‘Non-traditional Security Challenges’.

At the margins of the 11th ASEM foreign ministers’ meeting, India is also hosting alongwith Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), a permanent institution of ASEM, the 9th ASEF Journalists’ Colloquium on the theme ‘Media and the Green Growth : Reporting on Sustainable Development in Asia and Europe’. The colloquium will gather around 30 experienced journalists and about 8 environmental experts from Asia and Europe.

In early 2014, India would also be co-hosting with ASEF a two week project on ‘Sustainable Urbanisation in Heritage Cities’ aimed at students and young professionals from ASEM partner countries as well as seeking to raise awareness about cultural heritage as a crucial component in the process of sustainable urbanization in ASEM countries.