Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has expressed the hope that new Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari would fulfil his assurance that he would not allow his country's territory to be used as launching pad for terrorism.

Replying to questions by members of the prestigious Asia Society on Tuesday, Mukherjee said a country cannot choose its neighbours but it has the choice to either live in perpetual tension or in peace and India has chosen the latter course.

India, he said, welcomed the change ushering in of democratic government in Pakistan and the two countries have had "fruitful discussions" on various issues facing them since the new government took over.

During recent meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session, Zardari had assured Singh that he would ensure that Pakistan's territory is not used as launching pad for terrorism. It is in this context that joint terrorism mechanism has been established to combat the menace.

The question came up in the context of terrorist attacks in India and Indian embassy in Kabul.

Replying to another question, Mukherjee said India is interested in an early conclusion of the Doha round of trade talks but the questions of "market distorting" subsidies to agriculture by the developed countries remains the contentious issues. Most other issues, he said, had been resolved.

To a question about progress made in using thorium, which is widely available in India, as fuel for nuclear power plants so as to reduce dependence for foreign countries, he said India has substantial work on that but lacked critical technologies in some areas.

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