With reform-friendly and economist Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, the emphasis in Indian diplomacy is expected to remain on its economic component, analysts said.

Singh, in his broad policy statements shortly after being appointed Prime Minister last week, had spoken about New Delhi's keenness to improve relations with immediate neighbours.

Analysts expected economic and commercial ties to be the driving force of India's foreign relations in the days to come as it was Singh who had put India on the path of reforms in early nineties.

In his first foreign trip after taking over the top post, Singh will be attending the maiden summit of Bangladesh-India-Myanmar-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation (BIMST-EC) in Thailand's sea resort of Phuket in July.

The summit was scheduled to be held in February this year but put off because of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's inability to make it because of preoccupation with preparation for parliamentary elections in India.

The BIMST-EC summit will also provide an opportunity for Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia with her first interaction with Manmohan Singh.

Pakistan of course looms large on India's foreign policy mandarins. Singh has made it clear that India favors pressing ahead with dialogue with Pakistan on all outstanding issues.

Although talks on nuclear confidence building measures scheduled from today has been postponed at the request of India, it is taken in the right spirit in Islamabad given the fact that the new government in India took over only yesterday after portfolios were announced late Sunday night.

Analysts said the new External Affairs Minister K Natwar, a seasoned diplomat who was an automatic choice of the Prime Minister for the portfolio, needs a little bit of time to settle down and handle the sensitive issue of Indo-Pak relations.

The one big advantage for 73-year-old Natwar Singh, a key member of Congress' foreign policy think-tank, is that he is an old Pakistan hand, having served as India's high commissioner to that country in the eighties.

Natwar Singh, who hails from Rajasthan state, has come back to the Indian federal council of ministers after a break of 15 years, for the first time with a cabinet rank. He had served as a junior minister in Foreign Ministry in the Rajiv Gandhi government from 1986 to 1989.

Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan are scheduled to meet in June to discuss peace, security and Kashmir issues followed by a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the two countries in August this yearas per a time table agreed to by India and Pakistan in January this year.

The new government in India is likely to carry forward the Look East policy with greater economic integration with Asean countries and consolidate trade, investment and technology ties with members of BIMST-EC set up in June 1997.

India, analysts said, will continue to build on the upswing in ties with the United States and other Western powers such as Britain even though Congress, while in the opposition, has voiced reservations about the previous BJP-led regime's approach to Washington particularly with regard to Iraq.

It remains to be seen how the new government carries forward India's ties with Israel which were put on the growth path by the Congress government under P V Narasimha Rao and pursued vigorously by the BJP-led government later.

Analysts feel there could some subtle shift back from the pro-Israel tilt witnessed during the BJP-led regime, an indication of which was already evident from a comparison with New Delhi's reaction to the Israeli raids on Palestinians.