Outlining India's approach to its neighbours, the minister said India would like to have a peaceful neighbourhood 'in which all South Asian nations can work in concert, to attain the common objective of growth and development, as well as combat challenges like terrorism'.

He reminded Pakistan of its anti-terror pledge and stressed that meaningful dialogue was possible only after Islamabad takes action against the Mumbai attacks and the larger anti-India terror infrastructure.

'Steps, therefore, to address the issue of terrorism will be in the interest of the bilateral relationship and also in the interest of Pakistan.'

Krishna also vigorously defended the end-user monitoring agreement, a defence pact that allows the US to monitor the uses of high-end military hardware sold to India.

There is nothing in the pact, signed during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to India in July, that 'compromises our strategic interests', he said. The US has not been given any unilateral right of access to our military sites, he added.

In his first 100 days as external affairs minister, Krishna, who is currently in Brazil to attend the IBSA ministerial meeting, visited Bhutan and exchanged views with his counterparts from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal.

He participated in the Af-Pak ministerial meeting in the G8 plus outreach format in Italy. Besides, the minister held talks with his counterparts from the US, Russia, China and Japan. He singled out his visit to Australia for special mention, saying that it was aimed at seeking the understanding and support of the Australian authorities for stopping the violent attacks against Indian students.

He also participated in multilateral meets like the 15th NAM Ministerial at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, followed by the ASEAN-India and ARF Post-forum Ministerial in Phuket, Thailand.