This endorsement of India's position came in the form of a joint communique at the end of the two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of the ASEAN countries here today. Singh, who is here to take part in the ASEAN Regional Forum starting on July 26, will meet US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuang tomorrow. He met his Indonesian counter-part Ali Alatas today.

Singh told reporters that the communique affirms not only bi-lateral dialogue between India and Pakistan but also supports the inviolability of the LoC. The fact that the ASEAN communique, while talking of the issue of non-proliferation does not mention India by name, isalso seen as a positive indicator of India's perspective on security issues.

Since the last meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum at Manila came in the wake of the Pokharan nuclear tests, the Indian delegation was hard put then to explain its stand.

Though the ARF has no formal agenda, Singh will use this opportunity to put across to the foreign ministers its stand on the blatant intrusion in the Kargil sector by Pakistan in an effort to alter the LoC and the restraint shown by India in not widening the conflict. ``This puts us on a high moral and diplomatic ground,'' said an Indian official. While India joined the ARF in 1996 when it also became a full dialogue partner of ASEAN, Pakistan is only a sectoral dialogue partner and not a member of ARF.

Singh said that since his meeting with Albright comes after the positive stand taken by the US on various issues including Kargil and terrorism, a whole breadth of subjects could figure in the one-hour long meeting. This is Singh's first meeting with Albrightafter he took over as the External Affairs minister.

He met her during the last ARF meeting in Manila in July last year when he was leading the Indian delegation while being the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. On his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh said that they would try and flesh out the idea of a security dialogue between the two countries, discussed during his visit to China last month.