Indian Foreign Minister K Natwar Singh called on Bhutanese King Jigme Singye Wangchuk on Tuesday and discussed with him the entire gamut of Indo-Bhutanese relations including border security hydro-power projects, reports said.

The meeting, which took place in the Paro valley in the Himalayan Kingdom, covered various subjects including development cooperation, hydro-power projects, border management and security-related issues, United News Agency of India (UNI) reported.

Bhutans’s only airport is located at Paro. Singh was greeted by Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey on Monday at the Tribhuvan International Airport during his brief stop-over.

The Bhutanese monarch and Singh expressed satisfaction at the excellent state of bilateral relations which, they said, “are a model of good neighbourly cooperation to our mutual advantage,” a spokesperson of the Indian external affairs ministry said.

The King also hosted a lunch in honour of Singh.

The External Affairs Minister, who is currently on a three-day visit to Bhutan, is returning home on Wednesday.

Both India and Bhutan are cooperating against insurgency and militancy. Bhutan launched a major offensive to flush out Northeast insurgents, mainly ULFA, who had found a safe sanctuary in the jungles along the Indo-Bhutanese border.

The two countries are also cooperating in developing hydro-electric power projects, the news report said.

It was not immediately clear if Minister Singh discussed the issue of over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees who are languishing in seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal for the last 15 years.

A senior Bhutanese human rights leader, Tek Nath Rizal, said the US authorities had conveyed the refugee community that they had urged India to take up the issue (of Bhutanese refugees) with Bhutan.

Talking to BBC Nepali Service on Tuesday, Rizal said the Bhutanese refugee community was still optimistic. It is the moral responsibility of India (to help resolve the issue), he added.

As per the Indo-Bhutan treaty of 1949, India takes care of external relations and defense matters of Bhutan.

When pressed to throw its weight to `persuade’ the Bhutanese King to take back his own people, Indian officials say the refugee stalemate is an issue between two of their Himalayan neighbours and that Nepal and Bhutan should resolve it amicably.

There have been 15 rounds of high-level bilateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan in as many years on the issue but to no avail.