New Delhi
12 June 2009
There was "some congruence" on international political issues such as
Afghanistan among India, Russia and China, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said
here Friday ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's three-day visit starting Monday
to Yekaterinburg, Russia, for the SCO and BRIC summits.
"[We] all like to see the defeat of Taliban," he told a news conference.
Prime Minister Singh was expected to interact with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on
the margins of the SCO Summit, as reported first by this newspaper. Mr Menon said
Pakistan wanted to resume dialogue with India but for that to happen, it was necessary
that Pakistan took certain steps and created an atmosphere for dialogue to bear fruit.
Asked about US diplomat William Burns remarks that resolution of the Kashmir issue
should take into account the wishes of Kashmiri people, Mr Menon said New Delhi did
not see in it a shift in the US' stand.
Mr Menon went on to suggest that the foreign policy priorities in Prime Minister Singh's
second term in office would be to improve relations with India's neighbours, continue the
positive transformation of ties with all major powers, and to work with the international
community to see a rapid recovery from the global economic crisis.
"That is the touchstone", he said, careful to add that the first full-format BRIC (Brazil-
Russia-India-China) Summit would not indulge in "America-bashing". He asserted that
the BRIC members might discuss moving from dollar as world reserve currency but the
heads of state / government were not expected to make any coordinated policy decisions
at the Summit.
On India's ties with the US, Mr Menon said both sides had "very similar approach" to
issues such as non-proliferation. He also said India was "looking" at the US-led PSI
(Proliferation Security Initiative) "again". India had no problem with the PSI objectives,
but a "source of difficulty" was a distinction between the responsibilities of nuclear
weapon states and the non-nuclear weapon states.
The BRIC and SCO summits were expected to discuss regional and global issues such
as global economic downturn, international terrorism, trans-border crimes, drug-
trafficking, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The developments in
Afghanistan and the fate of Pakistan's nuclear assets were the other matters of concern
to the members of BRIC and SCO.
No comments:
Post a Comment