Natwar Singh, in his first major interview since being sworn in as foreign minister of the left-leaning United Progressive Alliance this week, said he wanted to revamp ties with Pakistan along with lines of New Delhi's relationship with Beijing.

"Pakistan is close to China and so is India. So why don't we follow the same example? We're saying don't forget Kashmir (but) keep it aside for faster progress on other issues," he told The Hindustan Times newspaper.

Singh said India's differences with China about their border over which they fought a brief war in 1962 had not impeded "relations in other areas."

But he said he was not asking Islamabad to put the issue of Kashmir, where a deadly Islamic revolt against Indian rule has raged since 1989, on a backburner.

"But if you make Kashmir the only agenda, then it will be difficult. Let's have progress on other issues as we discuss Kashmir through a high-level mechanism of the kind we have with China."

The border war between India and China left their relations in shreds. But growing trade between the giant economies in the 1990s led to warming ties and they have played down their territorial dispute to focus on improving commercial and other relations.

In June, India and China appointed special envoys to solve the border issue.

Singh said India and Pakistan needed to get over their obsession with Kashmir, which both countries hold in part but claim in full.

"If our diplomats spend 30 per cent of their time on Kashmir, their (Pakistani) diplomats spend 85 per cent. This must stop," he said.

The new communist-backed Congress coalition led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh government has begun work on a "definite roadmap" to build relations with Islamabad and other nations in South Asia, he said.

"Our priority is to cultivate good relations, reduce tensions and increase areas of agreement with our neighbours."

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. They came near to a fourth war in 2002 but were pulled back by international diplomacy.

Former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee launched a fresh peace bid last year and the two countries' foreign secretaries in February held talks on resolving a wide range of disputes, including Kashmir.

After the change in government, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri called Singh and both pledged to accelerate the peace initiative.

Singh added he welcomed the "improvement" in Indian-US relations brought about by the previous Hindu nationalist-led government. "We will carry it forward, deepen it, widen it and strengthen it," he said.

During the 45 years of previous Congress rule India, which led the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War, tilted toward the former Soviet Union.