Indian State Minister for External Affairs E Ahamed yesterday met Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan and discussed bilateral issues as well as matters relating to Saarc.

Official sources said the two ministers also talked about the agenda for the meeting likely to be held on November 13 between Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and Dr Manmohan Singh.

Morshed said, “We have discussed various bilateral concerns and the issues that might come up at the Saarc Summit.''

E Ahamed, however, did not say anything about the meeting.

The Indian state minister for external affairs arrived in Dhaka yesterday morning to represent India at the Saarc Council of Ministers' meeting in the build-up to the 13th Saarc Summit on November 12-13.

He had to cut short his visit to Sudan to come to Dhaka as K Natwar Singh was relieved of his duties as external affairs minister and made a minister without portfolio after his name cropped up in the Volcker Committee report on the UN's Oil-for-Food Programme scam.

Meanwhile, official sources said trade imbalance, sharing of common river waters and security issues are expected to be high on the agenda for the meeting between Manmohan and Khaleda on the sidelines of the summit.

They said the two leaders might also discuss ways to co-ordinate their efforts in the global fight against terrorism, given the fact that the entire south Asian region was grappling with the scourge.