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NEW DELHI, Feb 27 (AFP) - India's traditional agenda of reducing the gap between developed and developing countries looks set to take a backseat to its current focus on terrorism at the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Australia.

An official briefing this week by Indian foreign secretary Chokila Iyer on the four-day CHOGM meet, which begins March 2, was dominated by the subject of terrorism, which India has been using to attack arch rival and suspended Commonwealth member Pakistan.

The inclusion of a "new sub-item on terrorism" under a review of global developments in the CHOGM agenda was of "particular satisfaction to India", Iyer said.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was scheduled to leave India on Thursday to attend the Commonwealth summit.

Iyer said a draft plan on terrorism, prepared by the Commonwealth Committee on Terrorism for discussion during the meeting, contained "important and substantive measures" on the legal and financial steps that member countries could take to combat terrorism.

Iyer added she was confident the summit would come out against terrorism "in the strongest possible language".

Observers said India was keen to use the Commonwealth as another international forum to push its accusations against Pakistan as a sponsor of "cross-border terrorism".

Pakistan was suspended from all Commonwealth meetings following a military coup led by President Pervez Musharraf in October 1999.

General Musharraf has promised an eventual return to democracy.

Iyer said "terrorism and associated subjects" were sure to figure in informal discussions between Vajpayee and other Commonwealth leaders.

When asked if India was planning to propose new initiatives to bridge the divide between developed and developing countries -- a subject traditionally close to New Delhi's heart -- Iyer said the issue would feature in the final declaration.

"A measured approach" to strengthen the role of the Commonwealth in areas where it has a distinct advantage -- good governance, democracy, assisting members to benefit from globalisation, information technology to bridge the digital divide -- would all be discussed at the summit, Iyer said.

But terrorism was clearly India's focus.

"Terrorism is an issue which now concerns a large number of countries in the world, which includes members of the Commonwealth," former foreign secretary J.N. Dixit said.

"By adopting this theme, India and the Commonwealth are focusing on more contemporary issues. The North-South divide was the theme almost three decades ago," Dixit said.

Issues such as terrorism will make the Commonwealth more relevant and help deflect criticism that CHOGM summits are "just places to talk shop", he added.

However another former diplomat, S.T. Devare, said it would be a shame if the concerns of developing countries were marginalised.

"Developing countries should voice their concerns -- about globalisation, market forces, the widening gap between the north and the south -- at whatever fora they possibly can," Devare said.

"At meetings like the CHOGM, they should not lose the opportunity to discuss such issues which are also important." 

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