New York: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Sep 21, 2004) met US President George W Bush over breakfast in New York in the first interaction between the two leaders.

The meeting at Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan understood to have covered bilateral issues, global fight against terrorism, curbing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the Indo-Pak ties over which there is keen interest on the part of Washington.

Singh drove to the hotel where Bush was staying.

The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, came four days after the US agreed to ease export restrictions, including removal of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) from the prohibitive list, moving ahead on the "Next Steps in Strategic Partnership" (NSSP).

The groundwork for the summit-level meeting was laid both in New Delhi and Washington at the recent interaction on NSSP, which concluded Phase One of the partnership talks and prepared the ground for further progress in the next phases.