Kolkata: India today (June 20, 2004) said that it wanted to strengthen its "good" relations with Pakistan, but ruled out any immediate withdrawal of troops from the Indo-Pak border.

''We have good relations with Pakistan. Both India and Pakistan are holding expert-level talks on nuclear confidence-building measures. Foreign Secretary-level talks are scheduled later,'' Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at a "Meet-the Press" programme.

Asked if India was considering withdrawal of troops from the Indo-Pak border, Mukherjee said, ''There is no such proposal as yet.''

He said that the ceasefire with Pakistan will, however, continue.

Saying that no deadline had yet been fixed on the test-fire of the surface-to-surface missile 'Agni-III', he pointed out that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was still working on it. ''This has different stages. It is difficult to say what will happen when.''