NEW DELHI, May 24: Newly-inducted Indian Foreign Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh has said that the dialogue for friendship and good-neighbourliness with Pakistan will continue and will be intensified in all areas and differences will be ironed out through negotiations.

He was talking to reporters on Monday after taking charge of his office. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, meanwhile, was locked in urgent talks with DMK leaders, a major ally from Tamil Nadu, to persuade them to join his government after some of the ministers sworn in on Saturday refused to take charge of their portfolios. Most other allies were persuaded or cajoled into falling in line.

Mr Natwar Singh, speaking his mind on what he planned to do, said: "We will further strengthen, widen and deepen our relations with Pakistan." He described the 1972 Shimla Agreement as the "bedrock" of India's relations with Pakistan. He added that subsequent agreements and declarations between the two countries would also form part of the new process.

Mr Singh served as India's High Commissioner to Pakistan from 1980-82. "I have some personal knowledge of the complexities and subtleties of Indo-Pak relations," he said.

India's ties with the United States were multi-faceted. "It is in our interest, it is in their interest and the interest of the world community that relations between India and the US should be on a steady course and not episodic."

The new Human Resource Development Minister, Mr Arjun Singh, declared at the outset that he would 'detoxify' the education system from the influences of the right-wing Hindu groups who had sought to distort history textbooks. They had introduced obscurantist ideas even in science courses.

Textiles Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela said his first priority was to prepare the industry to face international competition after the quotas were phased out in January 2005.

"My attempt would be to prepare the industry to face international competition, especially from China. The aim would also be to get some special concessions to prepare it for the post-quota regime," Mr Vaghela told the Press Trust of India.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said there could be investigations into the various defence-related financial scandals that periodically dominated politics during six years of the previous government.

"If specific charges come up regarding defence deals concluded by the BJP-led government, these would be looked into," Mr Mukurjhee told reporters. The new government was committed to bringing in total transparency in defence purchases, he said.

Perhaps the most difficult task confronts Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. He said the government would consolidate the growth momentum with special emphasis on agriculture, the manufacturing sector and employment.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who was inducted in the cabinet even though he had lost the election as a Congress candidate, said the government did not consider the recently enacted anti-terrorist POTA law as necessary.

With Left parties and other important allies of the Congress-led government strongly opposed to recent anti-terrorism measures, the draft programme of the new United Progressive Alliance described the law as "grossly misused" in the last two years and suggested its repeal.

Mr Patil said he would continue to hold talks with Kashmiri groups, including the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called Mr Natwar Singh in the afternoon to congratulate him on his assumption of office.

The two ministers also reviewed bilateral relations as well as international issues, including the outcome of recent Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting. US Secretary of State Colin Powell also called Mr Singh to convey his congratulations.

Mr Powell said that he looked forward to working with Mr Singh, who recalled his meeting with Mr Powell during his recent visit to New Delhi. Mr Singh expressed satisfaction at the bilateral ties between India and the US and said that he looked forward to working with Mr Powell for deepening these relations, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

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