"The prime objective of this government is to improve the quality of life and for that whatever steps are needed would be taken," he said.

He made the remark when asked if the caretaker government had the constitutional authority to sign an agreement with an Indian company to set up a power plant.

The government on Wednesday signed a Tk 1,133 crore deal with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) to build a 240 megawatt power plant within December 2008.

Speaking at the weekly press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the adviser said lawyers and experts in law will look into it, but the government will have to run the government and that is commonsense, there will be some policy matters as well as some initiatives to solve the day-to-day problems.

Iftekhar said the caretaker government is overcoming the situation that prevailed before the state of emergency. In this context, he said Bangladesh's development partners are coming forward to assist the initiatives taken by the government.

Referring to his series of meetings with foreign diplomats, the foreign affairs adviser said, "Every foreign diplomat is a friend of Bangladesh. They also realise that they should not be involved unwarranted into internal affairs of Bangladesh, neither they nor the people of Bangladesh want it."

On free, fair and credible elections, he said the caretaker government primarily discussed with a number of countries for assisting the Election Commission (EC). "The issue of transparent ballot boxes was discussed in particular with the European Commission. The new Election Commission will carry on this discussion," he added.

Asked about the schedule of the stalled elections, the adviser refused to comment. "We are passing the first stage of our reform through reconstitution of the Election Commission," he said, adding that the elections would depend on how quick the new EC could complete its assigned tasks.

Replying to a query about the Washington Post and the Economist's articles about a disguised military rule in Bangladesh and the possible expulsion of Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, the foreign affairs adviser dismissed it for being speculative.

Asked if there was any move from the government to bring back Bangladeshi criminals who reportedly took refuge in India, Iftekhar said the government is analysing whether this type of incident had taken place.

"There is contact at tactical level [through agencies] of the two countries. The government will take up the issue if the relevant agencies say so in their reports," he said.

Turning to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), the foreign affairs adviser said Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will arrive here this month to invite Bangladesh to attend the 14th Saarc summit scheduled for April 3-4 in New Delhi.

He said Chief Adviser of the Caretaker Government Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed will lead the Bangladesh delegation to the summit. Bangladesh holds the current chair of Saarc.

Speaking about establishing enhanced diplomatic ties, Iftekhar said Bangladesh would establish diplomatic ties with Macedonia and San Marino.

He also said Spain is likely to open its mission in Dhaka within the next few months.

Replying to a question about diplomatic ties with Israel, he said the main reason for conflict in the Middle East is the Palestine issue and Bangladesh wants quick resolution of this problem.

"Bangladesh has pronounced its principled position on Palestine. We shall do everything possible at bilateral, national and international levels to resolve this issue if we can," he said.

Replying to a question about opening a Bangladesh mission in Afghanistan, he said the relationship between the two countries is excellent. Afghanistan became the member of Saarc and thus the government is considering opening a mission in Kabul, he added.

He lauded the media in Bangladesh and said, "Currently the media is the parliament."