Indian Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, has said there is no question of the country rolling back its nuclear programme.

But he has again indicated the likelihood of India signing up to the comprehensive test-ban treaty before it is due to come into force in September next year.

Speaking in Delhi, Mr Singh also sought to reassure a worried Pakistan that India's newly-signed defence pact with Russia is not a threat.

In a broad review of Indian foreign policy, the new foreign minister's message was that the May underground nuclear tests in the Rajasthan desert were a fact that could not be disinvented.

But he said its nuclear programme was not driven by what was happening in Pakistan and the new defence pact with Russia to the year 2010 did not herald an arms race with Pakistan.

He also said that if in the coming year, India tests a new version of its Agni missile - expected to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads more than 2,000km - it will be done in accordance with international norms.

But he would not confirm that such a test was definitely on the agenda for 1999.

On the subject of the long demonised test ban treaty Mr Singh also said a consensus was growing in India that they should now sign.

He denied that India was pouring huge sums of money into its nuclear programme at the expense of alleviating poverty.

He said economic security and security of energy supplies would be central to foreign policy from now on, and it would not be driven by ideology.