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India’s foreign policy has always been defined by the spirit of national consensus and seldom marred by partisan issues even as the conduct of foreign policy remained “a complex and delicate task”, the Union External Affairs Minister Mr. S.M.Krishna said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Replying to a discussion on the Demands for Grants of his Ministry, Mr. Krishna said that living in a world with “a number of challenges, both in terms of threats to our security from trans-national terrorism and arms build-up, ensuring access to technology, capital and resources for development and achieving inclusive growth”, his Ministry was fully geared to promoting “our interests in the world arena”.
Responding to the concerns and views voiced by BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister Mr. Jaswant Sing who initiated the discussion, Mr. Krishna said India today has a number of friends who remained drawn to us by “the enduring strength of our democratic values and our commitment to core global principles of peace, security and development”. He said India’s aspirations to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council found growing support in the global community, including majority of the permanent members of the Security Council. He also assured members that there was no change in India’s nuclear policy as “our commitment to universal non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament remains firms and we are committed to taking effective steps to safeguard our security and defense interests consistent with our doctrine of credible minimum nuclear deterrent”.
Stating that India remained active member of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) – which now, with the addition of South Africa, has become BRICs and other blocks such IPSA and basic group countries. He said the voice of the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is heard with great respect in G-20 gatherings and he has been the architect of some of the economic ideas that had been generated in G-20 in the post financial meltdown years.
Mr. Krishna said India always worked in its neighbourhood “with a sense of perseverance and deep commitment” to improving relations. On Pakistan, he said, India has pursued the path of dialogue to reduce the trust-deficit and to resolve all outstanding issues in a spirit of openness, even while not “abandoning our concerns about the need to eliminate cross-border terrorism”. With Bangladesh, he said, subsequent to the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visit to India last year January, “our focus’ was to implement the “comprehensives template of engagement” set out in the Joint Communiqué. He also recounted the steps taken to improve relations with China, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Referring to the concerns expressed by members over not building adequate roads and infrastructure in border areas, Mr. Krishna said “building infrastructure in the India-China borders” was one of the priorities as the Border Roads Organisation was constructing 61 India-China border roads, spread over Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Utharakhand. He said this covers a total length of 3429 kms with works on 14 roads having been completed.
On recent uprisings in the Arab world, Mr. Krishna said India has economic interest in the region with a population of six million Indians living and working there. He said the situation there was ‘fluid’, Mr. Krishna said assured members that “we will not be caught on the wrong side of history”. He said India was also implementing the decision of the first India-Africa Forum Summit to extend lines of credit worth over $5 billion to African countries. He said India’s projects such as PAN-African e-network added a new dimension of tele-education and tele-medicines in India’s continuous bid to partner African nations in capacity-building and economic development. He said Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme extending to nearly 160 countries has acquired a brand name in the developing world.
Later the House adopted the motion of demands for grants of the Ministry after the cut motion moved by RJD member Dr.Raghuvanash Prasad Singh was negatived.
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