Both sides separately said they were committed to continuing the process. "There is a commitment... there is determination to take this process forward and make progress in whichever field we can," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters here.
"We are determined that this process should be meaningful and should lead to an everlasting solution to the Kashmir issue," his Pakistani counterpart, Masood Khan, said at a separate briefing.
However, it was clear that the deep differences between the two sides over Kashmir had not been bridged. Sunday's talks began against a backdrop of sharp exchanges between the two sides over Kashmir, with New Delhi accusing Islamabad of being "unofficial" in its approach to the region and saying that cross-border insurgency had to end before real progress could be made.
At issue was a statement made by Kasuri on Saturday before flying to New Delhi in which he repeated Islamabad's insistence that Kashmir remained the core issue, and called for "courage and boldness" to resolve the row.
Sarna said that during Sunday's talks New Delhi had expressed its concerns over increase in the cross-border flow of militants into occupied Kashmir. "This is a matter of concern and it has been raised in all the meetings," he said.
However, Masood rejected New Delhi's claims that Islamabad is training and sponsoring the freedom fighters.
"Our position on the issue of cross-border terrorism is well-known, and we reject the allegations as baseless," he said.
"The issues are complex, and we have to find a solution...," Masood said.
The ministers themselves tried to play down the tensions before they went into the talks at a foreign ministry venue here. "I read some of the comments of the newspapers here and let me tell you we are not unofficial, because if we want peace in South Asia both countries have to make up their minds," Kasuri said.
Natwar Singh also tried to dampen the row. "I share his sentiments as we are committed to have cordial and friendly relations with Pakistan. It is in our interest to have peace and amity," he said.
In his opening remarks before the commencement of talks with his counterpart, K. Natwar Singh, at Hyderabad House, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said that good relations with India were in the interest of Pakistan and expressed the hope Indian government feels likewise.
Kasuri said: "We feel that good relations with India are in the interest of Pakistan. I hope your government feels likewise."
Indian External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh said India is committed to having good and cordial relations with its neighbour, Pakistan.
Sharing the views of Pakistan's Foreign Minister, he added, "peace and amity is our objective."
Khurshid Kasuri further said both the sides would review the progress on all the items included in the composite dialogue process.
"We will have to talk on all issues and we have not changed our minds," he added.
"I think focus needs to be on combating all those issues which we can tackle effectively together," he maintained adding, he referred in his opening statement that "we will have to face the challenges of all the post-industrial modern age together. We are focusing our attention on that."
The minister expressed the hope that at the end of the talks we have something good to say.
Later, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and Indian External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh held one-on-one meeting before the talks started at delegation level.