UAE, India speak science and trade

It was President A P J Abdul Kalam’s first visit abroad after assuming office in August this year. The outcome of the visit was more than expected. The visit reaffirmed India’s age old ties with UAE, Sudan, and Bulgaria.

Kalam began his trip to west Asia with UAE landing in Abu Dhabi on 18th October. This visit was hailed as strategic and vital. The visit come after a gap of 26 years by any Indian President and provided the much required impetus to bolster ancient ties.

The President had extensive discussions with the Crown Prince of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan on wide ranging issues. A meeting between the President of UAE, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and Kalam could not materialise, the former being away in London for medical reasons. The discussions were mainly economic and scientific.

The two sides made efforts to identify areas of collaboration through joint ventures and projects. The interlinking of rivers project in India came up for discussion. The President said the desalination plant at Umm Al Nar, which he visited, could be driven by solar energy. The possibility of India and the U.A.E. collaborating on developing more efficient solar energy cells were explored. Petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals were two other areas identified.

The issue of UAE investment in India was discussed. New Delhi is interested in UAE investments. India has one resentment. Nearly $200 to $300 billion from Abu Dhabi is “parked elsewhere’’. The Emirates were in a position to help invest this to build India’s infrastructure, feels New Delhi. India acknowledged the close cooperation by Abu Dhabi in helping extradite 12 persons wanted by India in connection with various crimes.

Sudan, India to develop by 2020

Indo –Sudan relation is historic. The first batch of Indians, mostly from Gujarat, are believed to have come here via Aden in 1864 and some Indians have taken Sudanese nationality, but almost all of them maintain strong links with families back in India.

The Indian President A.P. J. Abdul Kalam’s visit to this east African nation on the move, strengthened this old relation. The central message of President Kalam’s visit to Sudan was the need for greater Indo-Sudan cooperation in diverse fields. He suggested a partnership between India and Sudan for the development of both nations by 2020. According to Dr. Kalam both India and Sudan could “work together in building capabilities for oil exploration, refining and marketing of value-added oil-based products.”

New Delhi emphasizes great importance to her ties with Khartoum. India recently acquired a 25 percent stake by investing $760 million in Sudan’s biggest oil field and, for the first time in decades. Mr. Kalam said: “The time has arrived for our two nations to consolidate these developments since Independence and forge stronger bonds between planning and implementation institutions, public and private of both nations, to bring prosperity, happiness and freedom from insecurity to the peoples of both the countries.”

Bulgaria seeks close relation with India

Visiting Bulgaria was a great experience for Dr. Kalam, President of India. Kalam arrived Sofia on the third week of October. Terrorism, IT, trade and investments dominated the talks between President Kalam and Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov, besides others.

New Delhi and Bulgaria stressed on subjects highly relevant on bilateral and multilateral fronts. Both sides expressed commitment to fight terrorism jointly.

Giving weight to Kalam’s visit, the two countries signed three memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on extradition, information technology and software, and youth and sports. Food processing, chemical fertilizers, defence and metal processing were some of the areas identified by both sides. Cooperation in science and technology was discussed thoroughly.

President Parvanov hoped India and Bulgaria would put “specific content and substance” to the existing “very good relations” between the two countries. He also emphasised the “coincidence’’ of views of the two countries on many international issues, especially the need for reform of the United Nations for more effective “crisis prevention and management”. While Bulgaria was looking to being part of the European Union, its relationship with India would remain important.

Russia, India rolling forward

Relation between Moscow and New Delhi need no fresh introduction. It has withstood several upheavals from time to time. And Mr. Vajpayee’s 1day official visit to Moscow on November 12, was a sincere part of this process.

It was their fourth meeting between Prime Minister Vajpayee and Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met in Moscow for their annual summit. Apart from issuing a joint statement, India and Russia signed 10 agreements in the fields of science and technology, space, earthquake research as well as a number of bilateral banking accords. The two leaders reviewed their defence relationship at the highest level.

The focus was on trade ties. Despite close contacts existed between India and Russia, there is stagnation in trade relation. The India-Russian bilateral trade was about $1.4 billion while India’s trade with China was expected to touch $7 billion this year. Hence, Russia remains the top priority for economic ties for New Delhi.

India and Russia must assign precedence to bilateral economic ties in order to sustain their strategic partnership, a senior Russian diplomat said. “India and Russia are strategic partners with a dynamic political agenda and strong defence ties, so the main task today is to give a powerful impulse to our economic cooperation which still falls far short of its potential,” the Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Trubnikov, said. The need was to encourage investment in each other’s territory.

Indo-Russian trade has stagnated at around $1.5 billion in recent years, and fears have been voiced that it may fall even lower after India completes repaying the bulk of old Soviet rupee debts to Russia next year. “The sooner we switch from rupees to dollars in our trade, the better,” he said. “This would give a strong fillip to our ties.”

The summit meetings reviewed and emphasized the progress achieved in different elements of the Indo-Russian strategic partnership. The two sides were close to an agreement on concluding contracts relating to the purchase of the aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov. Various regional and international issues came up for detailed talks between Mr. Putin and Vajpayee.

Dushanbe, New Delhi coming closer

Relation between Tajikistan, a new member in Central Asia, and India is a decade old relation. Hence, the urgent need to activate this new bond. Indian Prime Minister, A B Vajpayee’s visit to Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, was a warm effort in this direction.

Mr. Vajpayee was in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, on November 13. It was the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Tajikistan since the country obtained independence on September 9, 1991. Tajikistan recently opened its embassy in New Delhi. During his stay, Prime Minister Vajpayee met the President, Emomali Sharifovich Rakhmanov, and the Prime Minister, Akil Akilov.

Trade will strengthen relation, and so both sides called for increasing trade between the two countries. One crucial area identified was the vast hydro-electric potential of Tajikistan. India announced a financial package of $40 million for Tajikistan, which included a credit line of $25 million, which could be used for mutually agreed industrial and infrastructure projects. The two sides agreed to extend road links from the Iranian port of Chabahar through Afghanistan into Tajikistan and set up a joint working group on counter-terrorism. India would help Tajikistan reconstruct the airport at Ayni.

New Delhi and Dushanbe decided to intensify defence cooperation. The other agreements signed included an extradition treaty, the setting up of an Indo-Tajik Information Technology Centre and an accord on tourism cooperation.

Syria appreciates India’s progress

That West Asia pay great interest in any high level visit from New Delhi was evident when Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee landed in Damascus on November 14 for a three-day state visit. The visit was crucial keeping in mind New Delhi’s policy towards West Asia, and her current engagement with Tel Aviv.

During his stay, Mr. Vajpayee met the Syrian President, Basher al-Assad, and held detailed discussions on bilateral, regional and international matters. India and Syria signed nine agreements in the fields of biotechnology, education, small industries, agriculture, science and technology, culture and technical cooperation.

India and Syria have agreed that their economic and commercial relationship needs to be developed extensively to raise it to a level commensurate with their political relations. India would extend a credit line of $25 million to Syria apart from a grant of $1 million to set up a Syrian National Biotechnology Centre. The two countries decided to set up a group of experts to discuss complementarities in the economies of the two countries.

There is no change in India’s position on establishing peace in West Asia. The situation in the region was a “matter of great concern” to India. India was “fully” with the Palestinian cause. Both countries also agreed on the need for an “early return” of sovereignty to the people of Iraq. India and Syria condemned terrorism. Syria was in full appreciation of the “wonderful progress” made by India in the economic, scientific and technological levels.

New Delhi keen to expand relation with EU

India is more than willing to have a close tie up with EU in various domains. This was conveyed by the visit of Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha to Brussels on October 28. Sinha’s visit has reinforced the desire to “expand and consolidate” bilateral relations.

Mr. Sinha met the EU chief official, Javier Solana, to lay the foundation for a common strategic foreign policy. He also called on the E.U. Commissioner (Minister) for External Relations, Chris Patten. At present estimated at euro 30 billion plus per annum, India’s growing trade with the EU could account for nearly a third of its total trade. Investment flows from the EU to the country are increasing, albeit at a modest pace, and now hover below the two billion euro mark. The EU is an important source of technology and home to a large and influential Indian Diaspora — estimated at around one and a quarter million. The Fourth EU-India Summit in New Delhi recently said many things about this growing relation between New Delhi and Brussels.

Thailand celebrates National Day

On the occasion of the Royal Birthday Anniversary of His Majesty, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the Royal Thai Embassy in New Delhi celebrated December 5 as the National Day of Thailand. The celebration was attended by members of the diplomatic corps and other dignitaries.