MOSCOW, Jan 5: World community, including the United States, Russia, China and Britain, on Monday welcomed the one to one meeting between leaders of Pakistan and India , President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, expressing the hope that it would help increase the momentum of the ongoing peace process.

The United States welcomed the Monday meetings between leders of Pakistan and India in Islamabad, hoping these meetings would "lead to further engagerment and dialogue."

An official of the State Department said: "We warmly welcome these meetings and hope they will lead to further engagement and dialogue between India and Pakistan."

The official in a statement said: "The US is pleased that Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf met today (on Monday) while attending the summit at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and that other senior-level meetings have taken place between Indian and Pakistani officials."

"We encourage them to continue this process," the official said, referring to the "positive" confidence-building measures taken by Pakistan and India. "Both countries have taken a number of positive confidence-building steps over the past several months, and we encourage them to continue this process."

Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Russian foreign ministry, while welcoming the historic meeting between the two leaders, expressed the hope that the encounter would lead to further talks between the two countries.

"We express the hope that the meeting of the leaders of the two countries will become a launching point towards resuming a full- fledged dialogue between India and Pakistan," the official said in a statement.

In a related development, the spokesman for China's foreign ministry appreciated the efforts made by the leadership of the two countries to improve bilateral relations.

"As friend and neighbour of the two countries," Mr Kong Quan said, "China wholeheartedly hopes India and Pakistan can maintain the momentum of detente and make concerted efforts for peace, stability and development in the region."

The spokesman said that China would continue to support the efforts of the two countries for bringing lasting peace in the region. He hoped that the summit-level talks would lead to resolution of their outstanding disputes, including the issue of Kashmir.

In the meantime, a spokesperson of Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Monday said: "We hope that this will lead to increase momentum in the process of normalization relations between the two countries and addressing each other's core concerns." Commenting on the meeting between President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Islamabad on Monday, she said: "We welcome the continuing improvement in bilateral India, Pakistan relations."-Agencies