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India said on Monday that it seeks peace, reconciliation and co-operation with Pakistan.
Addressing a crowded press conference in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said India wanted Pakistan to "revert to the path of peace and co-operation".
He said poverty was "our common and real adversary" and the two governments owed it to the people to face this challenge "morally, economically and politically".
"India seeks friendship, reconciliation and co-operation with Pakistan," he said.
Referring to India's invitation to Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, for talks, Singh hoped Islamabad would rise above the contentious issues.
Singh, who is holding additional charge of the defence ministry, said the invitation was "explicit" in picking up the threads of the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration.
Asked about the withdrawal of the unilateral ceasefire in Jammu & Kashmir, he said the militant groups were given six months to "scale back" and the government now considers this phase to be over.
To another question, Singh said the process of integration of the defence services had begun.
Stating that interaction between India and other countries had increased, especially over the last three months, Singh said that while the chairman of the United States joint chiefs of staff would be visiting for the first time later this week, he himself would visit Moscow for the first meeting of the Indo-Russia Commission on Military and Technical Co-operation in the third week of June.
The minister said he would also visit Australia and New Zealand in the coming months.
Describing the visit of Chinese leader and former premier Li Peng as "of great significance", Singh said the government had also been interacting with leaders from Africa, Europe, West Asia and Southeast Asia.
In reply to another question, Singh said India believes Pakistan had taken some steps to create an atmosphere for talks. "India is very clear about long-term relations with Pakistan. It is for Pakistan [to say] what it really wants on long-term relations with India," he said.
The minister hoped the proposed Indo-Pak summit would bear some results. He said a lot of groundwork would be done before Musharraf visits India.
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