India, Syria to hold talks

New Delhi

11 August 2007

India will review the situation in West Asia when she hosts Syrian

Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem next week. He will arrive in New Delhi on Monday for a

three-day visit.

Both sides are likely to discuss enhancement of political, economic and cultural

relations. The last visit by a Syrian foreign minister to India was in 2002. Union Minister

of Petromeum and Natural Gas Murli Deora was in Syria in April this year. Former prime

minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former minister of external affairs Jaswant Singh have

visited Syria. New Delhi has said that India and Syria have enjoyed ancient civilisational

ties and their ties were based on similarity of perception on many international and

regional issues.

Ambassador CR Gharekhan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy for West

Asia and the Middle East Peace Process, told this newspaper: "It is an important visit.

Syria is an important player in the region. We have excellent bilateral relations with

Syria."

He said that bilateral matters, the situation in the region and the prospects for the peace

process would figure in Mr Mouallem's talks here.

"It is good to have a briefing [from] a veteran diplomat [who was] involved in the bilateral

negotiations with Israel [over] Golan Heights, when they talked directly in Washington.

He is an expert on the peace process," Ambassador Gharekhan recalled. Making a

distinction between India's ties with Syria and the ties other countries, including the

United States, have with Syria, he added: "India is in touch with all parties. It is normal

for us to interact with friendly countries."

In a rare diplomatic encounter, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Mr

Mouallem in May this year on the margins of an international conference on Iraq, which

was held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. It was the first high-level diplomatic

contact between Washington and Damascus in more than two years. The US sees Syria

as a state sponsor of terrorism. Washington recalled its ambassador two years ago after

it accused Syria of having a hand in the assassination of former Lebanese rpt Lebanese

prime minister Rafik Hariri.

PM to skip SCO Summit next week

New Delhi

8 Augut 2007

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not represent India at the

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit for the third year in a row. The 2007

SCO Summit will be held at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan next week.

Sources told this newspaper that Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee can be

expected to stand in for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the August 16 summit. New

Delhi has not made an official announcement yet.

The SCO was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and

Uzbekistan. India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have observer status in the SCO. The US

applied for observer status but its request was turned down.

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora travelled to Shanghai for the

2006 Summit. The then minister of external affairs Natwar Singh represented India at the

2005 Summit at Astana in Kazakhstan.

India's low-key representation continued when Union Minister of State in the Prime

Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan was deputed to attend the SCO Heads of Government

(Prime Minister-level) Meeting held at Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in September last year.

New Delhi has been advancing the logic that there was no need for the Prime Minister to

attend the Summit because India was only an observer. Certain analysts, however, have

pointed out that all the other observer states were represented by their heads of state

and/or government at the Summit last year. The analysts said that New Delhi's thinking

was dictated by a desire to be seen as close to the US, especially at a time when both

sides were negotiating the proposed bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.

According to reports, the presidents of Iran and Mongolia are expected to attend the

Bishkek Summit. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the last Summit at

Shanghai. Pakistan is likely to be represented by its Foreign Minister Khurshid

Mehmood Kasuri. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov will be a

special guest.

Incidentally, Japan, an ally of the US, has realised the importance of Central Asia and

begun engaging the counties of the region, bilaterally and multilaterally. It formed the

Central Asia Plus Japan initiative in August 2004. All the five Central Asian countries are

involved in this dialogue. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit India later this

month. He is expected to address both Houses of Parliament on August 22. Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the Japanese Diet (Parliament) in December last

year.