Opening Statement

I am happy to have this opportunity to meet with all of you today. This is my first meeting with you sinceI became Minister for External Affairs and I look forward to our interaction this afternoon. I attach greatimportance to regular contacts with the media as part of our diplomatic functioning. I do intend to meet youat regular intervals and would make an effort to maintain this resolve.

I have just completed a series of visits to our neighbouring countries. It is not as if there has been anyattitude of neglect on our part or any slow down in our relations with our neighbouring countries. On thecontrary, we have had high-level exchanges with these countries during this year itself. I did, however, wishto convey a renewed sense of commitment to maintaining friendly, close and mutually productive relations withour neighbours which are bound to us by shared history, culture and civilization.

My visits abroad in the eight weeks since I came to the Ministry of External Affairs began with my visit tothe Maldives, followed by Sri Lanka in July, a visit to Brunei for the meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum andthe Post Ministerial Conference of the ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners, a visit to Bhutan, followed by myvisit to Afghanistan, and thereafter my visits to Nepal and Bangladesh.

I am of the view that these visits have enabled us to infuse further strength and substance to ourrelations with countries in the region based on trust, and the principles of mutual equality and sensitivityto each other’s concerns, our common commitment to fight terrorism and not to allow the territory of anycountry to be used against the interests of other countries, non-interference in internal affairs, respect forterritorial integrity, unity and sovereignty, and the settlement of outstanding issues through peacefuldialogue.

The prospect of improvement of relations with our neighbour Pakistan, unfortunately, cannot be realized inthe face of the continued support provided by it to terrorism directed at India. For decades Pakistan haspromoted terrorism against us. The international community now agrees that nothing can justify terrorism. Theinternational community now accepts that Pakistan is engaged in terrorism against India. In this context, itis the only country that publicly declares its political, moral and diplomatic support to terrorist violenceagainst India. We have repeatedly called upon Pakistan to end its sponsorship of terrorism in India so that aconducive environment can be created for the resumption of bilateral dialogue. Pakistan’s commitments topermanently end infiltration and cross border terrorism have not been fulfilled, and indeed the battery offalse allegations accusing India of certain actions in the Gultari sector of the Line of Control in Jammu andKashmir in recent days, only confirms Pakistan’s unscrupulous use of false information to meet itsdiplomatic ends.

A special mention must be made of my visit to Afghanistan earlier this month which has intensified ourcontacts with the highest levels of the leadership in that country. In the months since the fall of theTaliban regime, India’s approach has been one of strong support for a united, strong and stable Afghanistan,the consolidation of democracy and civil society within that country, a political dispensation that isrepresentative of all ethnic groups, and for the effective reconstruction of the country based on the needs ofthe Afghan government and people. My visits to Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, and Kandahar, besides Kabul, reflectedour continuing contacts and cooperation with all sections of Afghan society and regions, and our support for astrong, united, independent and sovereign Afghanistan.

At the recent Session of the Council of SAARC Ministers in Kathmandu, I made the crucial point that thebilateral relationship between India and Pakistan should not be allowed to cloud the SAARC process. The region’soverarching goal of poverty alleviation, of attaining developmental milestones, and seeking closer economicintegration must not be held hostage to any bilateral relationship between two member countries. Regionaleconomic integration is an inevitability. Trade imbalances are an issue in our relations with some of ourneighbours, and I have stated clearly in my interactions in Nepal and Bangladesh for instance, that India isprepared to go more than half way in meeting the trade-related concerns of our smaller neighbours. At the sametime, I have stressed that economic issues must be seen as economic and not as emotion-driven. Within SAARC,India has emphasized the need for early completion of the SAPTA negotiations, thus enabling the membercountries to move on to working towards SAFTA.

At the SAARC meeting several countries raised the issue of international terrorism in the context ofupdating the SAARC Convention on Suppression of Terrorism to bring it in line with the UN Resolution 1373 andthe UN Convention on Suppression of Funding of Terrorism. The decision of the Council of SAARC Ministers attheir recent meeting to expedite the finalisation of a Protocol to strengthen the SAARC Convention AgainstTerrorism, and to work towards convening a Ministerial Conference of SAARC on Terrorism is a welcomedevelopment.

The agenda of our foreign relations is much expanded today. In the weeks to come, our participation at theSustainable Development Summit in Johannesburg, the forthcoming session of the United Nations GeneralAssembly, which will be preceded by a visit I propose to make to Washington D.C. for discussions withSecretary of State Powell, key representatives of the U.S. Administration and with the U.S. Congress, willintensify our engagement with our friends and partners for mutual benefit. With another of our importantneighbours, Myanmar. I propose to impart further momentum to our relations, through contact and consultationwith my counterpart, the distinguished Foreign Minister of Myanmar with whom I had a bilateral meeting inBrunei.

I have not intended to make my opening statement a recapitulation of all the goals and concerns of ourforeign policy. I have focused on my most recent visits and the ones I will be making in the next few days.The omission to mention several countries and regions with which we are actively engaged is only because ofthe need to keep the opening statement short and functional.

I will be happy to take your questions on any subject you should wish to raise.

Thank You.