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Life is a never-ending learning process. One can learn many things at any stage, as well as despite holding any position so high provided one is really willing. This is the summary of the three nation recent visit of Indian President, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam to UAE, Sudan, and Bulgaria, spread across Asia, Africa Europe in the month of October 2003.
There is no other better way of expression than this, simple yet humble. On board the special aircraft Kalam viewed his tour as a “learning trip”. He was eagerly waiting for his interaction with scientists, academicians, politicians, and above all students in the UAE, Sudan and Bulgaria. “I want to see the core competencies” in each of these countries and take back something so that an “exchange of ideas” can take place, he said. He hoped to strengthen the traditional bonds of friendship between these countries and India and improve economic and scientific ties to create a “win-win situation” for the countries involved in any project. This was Kalam’s first visit abroad after assuming the August office in 2002.
Kalam identifies areas with UAE
On 18th October, Kalam began his visit with Abu Dhabi, capital of United Arab Emirates. This visit was hailed as strategic and vital. The reasons are many. The visit has come after a gap of 26 years by any Indian president. The then president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed paid the last visit in 1973. Kalam’s visit has given much weight and stability to the bilateral relation.
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 visiting Indian Minister for Information Technology, Arun Shourie, who is accompanying the President, briefed the media on the possibility of India and the U.A.E. collaborating on developing more efficient solar energy cells. Petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals are two other areas identified.
New Delhi is interested in UAE investments and Shourie had some suggestions. Nearly $200 to $300 billion from Abu Dhabi are “parked elsewhere’’. The Emirates were in a position to help invest this to build India’s infrastructure.
However, Kalam did not miss the opportunity to thank the Crown Prince for cooperation in helping extradite 12 persons wanted by India in connection with various crimes. To him the visit had once again brought into focus the need for India to maintain frequent high-level contacts with countries in different parts of the world; especially with those it had enjoyed warm and friendly relations over decades.
Need for greater Indo-Sudan Cooperation
The visit of Dr Kalam to Sudan comes after a gap of 28 years; The then president F.A. Ahmed toured Sudan in 1975. The visit has come at a time when Sudan is at a crossroads between peace and continuing internal violence.
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. Elaborating on what India had set out to achieve in the next two decades, he said Sudan too could adopt a mission mode path for development.
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.
Addressing the Parliament of Sudan Mr. Kalam was very clear in his ideas. He said that India and Sudan could “work together in building capabilities for oil exploration, refining and marketing of value-added oil-based products.”
Two developments make this offer significant. India recently acquired a 25 percent stake by investing $760 millions in Sudan’s biggest oil field and, for the first time in decades, an end to the civil strife between the Sudanese Government and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) seems to be in sight.
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.”
Situated between the White Nile and the Blue Nile, the ancient city of Khartoum looks like any Indian small town. There are not many Indians here — the ONGC presence there is growing and there are some businessmen and the Embassy. Altogether, there are about 2,000 Indians in the entire country.
India-Bulgaria condemn terrorism
Terrorism, IT, Trade and investments dominated the talks between President Kalam and Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov. Both sides focused on the need to enhance interaction on diverse fields.
Moving with time, New Delhi and Bulgaria stressed on subjects highly relevant on bilateral and multilateral fronts. If trade, investment, IT, software, sports came up for discussions, the increasing concern on transnational terrorism did not fail to find space either.
To this effect, the two countries signed three memorandums of understandings (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. There are 20 ongoing scientific projects between India and Bulgaria and the focus is expected to be on increasing trade and investments.
On terrorism, both Kalam and Parvanov focused on the need to understand the “social roots of terrorism”, to deal with the menace. “There are two aspects of terrorism, one the need to resist and oppose it, but the other aspect is the need to understand the social roots of the phenomenon,” Mr. Parvanov said. “We condemned terrorism which cannot be justified, whether it was religious, ethnic or any other kind of violence”, Kalam said.
During his stay Dr. Kalam interacted with Bulgarian mathematicians and scientists and praised them for their contributions. Dr. Kalam stressed upon setting up of joint laboratories for mutual advantages. By early January next year, a joint working group of Indian and Bulgarian academicians and businessmen would be set up, said Parvanov separately.
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.
The Presidential learning voyage ended on 23rd October, after a hectic schedule that left even the hosts and the visiting dignitaries gasping for breath. After all, learning for Mr. Kalam is an unstoppable journey!
Bottom line: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s three-nation tour had remained highly successful from every count. If Kalam had a great learning experience, India knew the core competencies of these countries and vice-versa for a substantial relation with these nations in the immediate future. What did enthuse the Indians back at home was the zeal and enthusiasm Kalam displayed in his first ever foreign trip. The reason was only one. “What is the secret of his energy”? That was the question posed to him by the media on board the special flight from Khartoum to Sofia. The answer came instantly, “I will not get tired as long as the 260 million people below the poverty line in India do not smile,” was Mr. Kalam’s immediate response. A real crusader or missionary for some great cause, or what?
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