India and Bangladesh Monday downplayed differences over terrorism as they discussed arrangements for the SAARC summit to be held in Dhaka in January.

"We had an excellent meeting," India's External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh told reporters after 45 minutes of talks with his visiting Bangladesh counterpart, M. Morshed Khan, at Hyderabad House here.

"We are happy with the outcome. We will continue with the dialogue," Khan said.

Khan, here as the special envoy of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and handed over an invitation from Zia for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit.

Besides India and Bangladesh, the seven-nation SAARC clubs Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.

The two ministers discussed the SAARC draft document and the progress in implementing decisions taken at the January summit in Islamabad, external affairs ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.

"We shared our concerns on several issues related to better border management and cooperation with Bangladesh, including those connected with insurgency," he said.

"Bangladesh assured us of its commitment not to allow the use of its territory for activities prejudicial to India's interests. We will continue to engage the Bangladesh government on these issues to resolve the problem."

But even as the two foreign ministers were meeting, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi urged the central government to pressure Bangladesh to flush out anti-India rebels operating from its territory.

Gogoi said intelligence gathered by both his state government and the centre suggested that there were many camps being operated by anti-India rebels in the two neighbouring countries.

"Bangladeshi authorities may deny it, but we have intelligence reports," he asserted.

There have been in recent weeks allegations and counter-allegations between New Delhi and Dhaka over the issue of terrorism.

Following a series of attacks in Assam in September, New Delhi had accused Bangladesh and Myanmar of allowing Indian insurgent groups to operate freely from bases in their territory.

Bangladesh had angrily denied the charge and accused India of giving refuge to Bangladeshi fugitives.

Sarna said Natwar Singh and Morshed Khan reviewed bilateral relations, including trade and infrastructure.

The Bangladesh minister spoke appreciatively of the Tata Group's proposal to invest over $2 billion in power, steel and other infrastructure projects in his country, Sarna said.

During Khan's meeting with Manmohan Singh, he conveyed Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's appreciation of the Indian offer of assistance worth Rs.1 billion for Dhaka to source flood relief and rehabilitation material from India including foodstuff, building materials and medical supplies.

--Indo-Asian News Service