US President George W Bush told Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Monday that Pope Benedict XVI apologised for remarks that angered Muslims and was "sincere," the White House said.

"The president noted that the pope had made some apologies for his remarks and the president believes that the pope was sincere in those remarks and that's where the discussion was left," said national security council East Asian affairs director Dennis Wilder.

Asked whether Abdullah believed that was sufficient, Wilder replied: "He accepted the president's position on the subject."

Malaysia's foreign minister, Syed Hamid Albar, has said that Pope Benedict XVI apology for the reaction to his remarks linking Islam with violence is inadequate and will continue to insist on a full apology.

On Sunday, the pope said he was sorry for the reaction to his remarks.

"I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address ... which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims," the pope said during the traditional Angelus blessing from the balcony of his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.

He stressed that the passages he quoted during a speech at Regensburg University "do not in any way express my personal thought".

50-minute meeting

The issue arose as Bush and Abdullah met here for about 50 minutes on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly for talks on issues including peacekeeping in Lebanon and Washington's outreach to the Muslim world.

The pope's reference to Islam and jihad, in a complicated speech last week touching on the relationship between religion and violence during a visit to Germany, has caused widespread anger in the Muslim world.

The pope quoted an obscure medieval text that criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman."

Wilder said much of Bush and Badawi's conversation had focused on the relationship and "common roots" of Islam, Christianity and Judaism and "their belief that there is much that these religions can learn from each other.

Abdullah "is an excellent friend of the president, and as a democracy with a Muslim majority in its population, Malaysia has a great deal to offer as a sounding board for the president of the United States in his outreach to the Muslim world," said Wilder.