India and the US began a three-day strategic dialogue on Tuesday, the first such interaction between the two countries after the new government assumed office.

The holding of the meeting of what is known as the India-US Defense Policy Group (DPG) marks continuation of an exercise initiated during the previous administration.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said it would seek to "strengthen, widen and deepen" relations with the US.

An Indian defense ministry spokesman said the DPG would discussthe entire gamut of bilateral defense ties, including strategic issues, joint exercises, training and acquisition.

"The talks will also review counter-terrorism requirements of India, terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, security of sea-lanes in the Indian Ocean and peace and stability in Asia," he added.

The Indian delegation to the DPG meeting, being held at the defense ministry, is led by Defense Secretary Ajay Prasad while his counterpart, US Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith, is heading the American team.

Under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government, India had rapidly expanded its defense ties with the US. The armies and air forces of both sides held several exercisesover the past two years.

The previous DPG meetings had been held in December 2001 and inMay 2002. The next meeting took place after a long gap in August 2003 in Washington.

The rapid expansion of military-to-military contacts between the two sides has focused on training, joint exercises, participation in US-sponsored multilateral events, disaster management, humanitarian activities and search and rescue orientedplanning.

The two sides signed an agreement on security measures for the protection of classified military information in January 2002 and a master information exchange agreement to facilitate defense research and development in February 2004.

Source: Xinhua