As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prepares for talks with US President Obama, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Islamabad is ready for talks with India if New Delhi is ready.

He said, "I am giving India a message. If they are ready for meaningful dialogue, then Pakistan is ready. If they want another sitting for the sake of sitting, then I don't want to waste time."

In an interview to the Washington Post ahead of his state visit to the US, Singh said, "We are committed to resolve all the outstanding issues with Pakistan through bilateral negotiations. Our only condition is that Pakistan should not allow its territory to be used for acts of terrorism against India.

"If Pakistan really honours that commitment, we can go back to negotiation to resolve all outstanding issues between us," he added.

The Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers along with Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik met over lunch in Kabul on Thursday, after Hamid Karzai was sworn-in as Afghanistan president for a second term.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday the Obama administration encourages India and Pakistan to get back into dialogue process, which was halted by the Mumbai terrorist attack.
 
"We are encouraging them (India and Pakistan) to get back into dialogue. We think that (dialogue) is important. But with respect to any resolution, that's up to them," Clinton told the BBC in an interview, the transcripts of which was released by the State Department in Washington.