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COPENHAGEN: Denmark on Thursday began a campaign to reclaim friends in Muslim countries, pledging to host a conference on religious dialogue and help finance a UN program aimed at overcoming prejudices between Islam and the West.

The move comes after weeks of violent protests against the 12 Prophet Muhammad cartoons that have damaged Denmark's reputation in the Islamic world. The drawings were first published in a Danish newspaper in September, but have since been reprinted by other media, mostly Western.

The Danish foreign minister, Per Stig Moeller, said a panel of Islamic and Christian scholars and clerics would be invited to take part in the conference in Copenhagen on March 10.

"Although we may disagree on some issues, including the significance of inherent values in European societies, there are undoubtedly more issues that bind us together than separate us," Moeller said in a videotaped statement that was sent to Arabic media and posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site. "But we have to reflect on lessons learnt from the past weeks and months."

The conflict over the cartoons simmered for months before it erupted into violent protests, flag burnings and attacks on Danish and other Western embassies in several Muslim countries. Dozens have been killed in the protests. Denmark temporarily closed its embassies in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Indonesia and Pakistan.

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Moeller said Denmark would give "a significant financial contribution" to the Alliance of Civilizations initiative launched by the United Nations to resolve cultural and religious differences between the West and the Islamic world. The government would also support an Islamic festival in Copenhagen in August.

Experts said the announcement indicated a shift in Denmark's response to the crisis, which previously focused on damage control and correcting what Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called an unfair portrayal of Denmark as an intolerant country.

Joergen Baek Simonsen, a Danish expert on Islam and one of the invited panelists, said the move indicated "a more offensive strategy, presenting Denmark as a country that wholeheartedly supports dialogue and mutual respect."

The 12 cartoons were first published in newspaper Jyllands-Posten on Sept. 30. One of them shows the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a lit fuse. Islam widely holds that representations of Muhammad are banned for fear they could lead to idolatry.

Fogh Rasmussen has condemned attempts to demonize religious groups and expressed sympathy for Muslims who felt offended by the drawings. However, he has insisted the government cannot interfere with Denmark's independent media.

On Thursday, the prime minister said that ending the uproar may require a "solution within the United Nations." He did not give details.

The Danish government has been widely criticized for not taking a stronger stance against the cartoons in the early stages of the conflict.

In an interview published Thursday, the Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said Denmark ignored his warnings that the conflict could escalate.

"The message from your foreign minister was 'No, no and no,'" Aboul Gheit was quoted as saying in the Copenhagen newspaper Politiken. "'If there is a case, you can raise it in court,' he said."

In his statement, Moeller said the government was planning a range of initiatives to promote "respectful dialogue," partly drawing on advice given by Muslim countries.

"In Denmark there is a genuine respect for the religious feelings of other people and we acknowledge that many Muslims felt gravely insulted by these controversial drawings," Moeller said.

Jyllands-Posten has apologized for offending Muslims, but stands by its decision to print the drawings, citing freedom of speech.