The newly appointed Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said here on Thursday that his priority would be to revamp the body and initiate steps to implement the promises made in the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance government.

"The priority of the (newly constituted) Planning Commission clearly will be to give shape in terms of the specific plan proposals, plan allocations, policy restructure in order to implement the CMP," Ahluwalia, currently on a visit to China, told PTI in an exclusive interview.

• Montek is Plan panel deputy chairman

"I was very thrilled to hear that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to appoint me as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. I am looking forward to joining the team," he said.

"I have worked with him before and also with (Finance Minister) Chidambaram. It is an honour and privilege. It is an extremely challenging task which I am looking forward to taking up now," said Ahluvalia, a former commerce and finance secretary and a member of the Planning Commission.

"I like to meet with the new members and reshape the work of the Planning Commission to that end," he said.

Ahluwalia, a noted economist, currently working as director at the independent evaluation office of the International Monetary Fund, said he will resign the job with immediate effect so as to join the "team" by July 1.