New Delhi, Oct 20: The foreign ministers of India, Russia and China will meet in Almaty on Thursday on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), officials said on Wednesday.

Pakistan is a member of CICA but diplomats and officials said they were not aware if a bilateral meeting between the Indian and Pakistani representatives was on the cards during the 16-nation meeting. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar is believed to be heading the Pakistan side at the talks.

Officials said Indian Foreign Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh would attend a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Chinese counterparts in Kazakhstan as part of the annual consultations among the three countries, this time on the sidelines of the CICA gathering.

The Almaty conference that will be attended by foreign ministers of 16 countries, including Mr Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Mr Li Zhaoxing of China. Official sources explained that the talks would not have a structured agenda and would be informal in nature.

This will be the third in a series of annual trilateral consultations that the three countries have been holding since 2002, this time with a significant new signal of a shift in Sino-Indian ties.

Chinese State Councillor Mr Tang Jiaxuan , visiting India this week, was quoted by New Delhi as discussing ties with New Delhi from a strategic perspective. He met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when both sides agreed to boost their relations through strategic perspective.

Mr Tang, who paid a courtesy call on Dr Singh on Wednesday evening, conveyed the greetings of President Hu Jintao and handed over a letter from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to the Indian prime minister.

An Indian foreign ministry statement said Mr Tang Jiaxuan briefed Dr Singh on recent developments in India-China relations, which he said had maintained a sound momentum.

As a result of the efforts of both sides, the bilateral relationship had entered a new phase of development, the statement said.

Mr Tang said that proceeding from a long-term and strategic perspective, China was committed to the development of steady and sustained growth of relations with India.

According to the statement, the Chinese leader conveyed Beijing's support for a bigger role for India in the international community, including in the United Nations Security Council.

Dr Singh expressed happiness that the Chinese Premier would be visiting India at an early date and said a warm welcome awaited him, the Indian statement said.

Mr Tang had a meeting with Mr Natwar Singh on Wednesday.

They agreed that the two countries should take a long-term and strategic perspective of bilateral relations, seize the opportunity provided by the current state of relationship and maintain its momentum. They also agreed to move the relations forward on a constructive agenda and to continuously expand and develop further areas of cooperation, while seeking fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solutions to outstanding issues, including the boundary question, the Indian statement said.

It said the two sides agreed to take further steps to make their trade and economic cooperation commensurate with the size of the two countries.