New Delhi, Sep 2 - Outlining the thrust of India's foreign policy in the first 100 days of government, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Wednesday said India had pursued 'a multi-dimensional' policy of deepening ties with major global players and its neighbours without compromising on its autonomy of decision-making.

Krishna stressed India's pursuit of a policy 'that ensures a peaceful periphery and a supportive international environment' to spur high economic growth and create greater opportunities for Indian business and enterprise, specially in the area of knowledge industries.

'In its first hundred days, the external affairs ministry has pursued a multi-dimensional foreign policy of seeking strategic engagement, partnership and dialogue with all major global players, without creating any contradiction or hyphenation between one set of relations and another,' Krishna said in response to questions from journalists on the functioning of his ministry.

Underlining the growing salience of economic diplomacy in international relations, Krishna said the pursuit of enhanced trade, investment inflows, technology transfers, energy security and other economic imperatives had become an overarching imperative of India's foreign policy under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

'One of the main challenges of our foreign policy lies in creating and maintaining a regional and international environment which would enable us to sustain a high rate of economic growth, create more opportunities for Indian entrepreneurship and enable India to realise her vast, latent potential,' he said.

To realise high growth, Krishna said he had focused on effectively leveraging India's established capabilities in the field of frontier technologies like space, information technology, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

Citing India's commitment to the Non-Aligned Movement, Krishna emphasised India's autonomy of decision-making and independence of thought and action in foreign policy.