The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan held a telephone conversation on Sunday and pledged to carry on their peace process.

Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh told his Pakistani counterpart Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri that contacts between the neighbours should be intensified.

He said both sides have a "vested interest in promoting good bilateral relations."

Pakistani and Indian officials are due to meet in New Delhi in the middle of June to discuss ways to improve nuclear security. Talks are scheduled for the end of the month concerning other issues, including their bitter dispute over the divided Kashmir region.

The nuclear-armed rivals came to the brink of war two years ago.