The last sixty years in Indian history stand out as some of the most eventful ones as compared to the long and tumultuous past of our country which dates back several millennia. Year 1947 marked the discarding of centuries of colonial rule and the emergence of India as a sovereign democratic Republic. Freedom was accompanied by the agony of Partition resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people and the dislocation of millions of people living in the subcontinent. It marked a chapter of new struggles and altered the structure of the Indian map on the globe forever.

As India completes its sixty years of independence, it is proud to exhibit a stabilised democratic system with an independent judiciary, a liberal media and a continuous effort to get rid of social issues such as poverty, corruption, violence, social tensions and terrorism that hover like dark clouds over our country.

The fundamentals of India’s foreign policy were laid during the freedom movement when our leaders, while fighting for independence, were engaged with significant causes of the time. The principles of India’s foreign policy have stood the test of time since those times. Every country is the outcome of its own history and knowledge. Its attitude is shaped by the way it came into being. India’s freedom was the result of the most philosophically ethical and visionary struggles that refurbished the face of history and determined the principles of our foreign policy.

As a nation, India believes in maintaining friendly relations with all countries of the world, the resolution of conflicts by peaceful means, the sovereign equality of all states, independence of thought and action as demonstrated in the non-alignment policy and impartiality in the conduct of international relations. India sought to remain non-aligned in an attempt to extend our hard won freedom to the sphere of international diplomacy. The building blocks of Indian foreign policy are to preserve our freedom, to extent our autonomy and to reinforce democracy at home on the footprints of the world democratic order.

Under the guidance of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India was the founder member of the Non-alignment movement. India has been playing a significant role in strengthening the Movement and making it an effective platform to voice the collective aspirations and interests of the developing countries on vital issues like development, peace and stability. The end of the Cold War saw the strengthening of the Movement and its priorities were redefined keeping in mind the changing times.

India was at the forefront of the world community in the struggle against colonialism. The freedom struggle stimulated the policy of removing colonialism in other parts of the world, particularly in Africa. India raised the question of racial discrimination in South Africa in 1946 and was the first country to initiate AFRICA (Action for Resistance to Invasion, Colonialism and Apartheid) Fund which was set up in 1986. India was the Chair of the AFRICA Fund committee which wound up in 1993.

India’s foreign policy strongly advocates general and complete disarmament, with nuclear disarmament being of the highest priority. India presented an Action Plan for ushering in a Nuclear Weapons Free and Non-Violent World Order to the UN General Assembly in 1988. Even though India has and will remain committed to nuclear disarmament, it has consistently opposed such treaties as the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NOT) and Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and has refused to give up its nuclear options until all countries of the world including nuclear weapon states give in to the idea of nuclear disarmament in a phased manner.

As a founder member of the United Nations, India has made a significant contribution to its various activities. It has actively participated in its peace-keeping operations including those in Korea, Egypt, Congo, Somalia, Angola and Rwanda. India has been an active member of the Group of 77 and later the core group of G-15 nations. Other issues of prime significance have been those pertaining to environmentally sustainable development and the promotion and protection of human rights.

Corresponding with national interests and security, India has worked in its bilateral relations and has succeeded in establishing a network of mutually beneficial relations with all countries of the world. India has always strove to improve the relations with its neighbouring countries. It played a historic and unique role in the liberation of Bangladesh which emerged as a sovereign nation in 1971. The implementation of the 1964 and 1974 Agreements led to the resolving of issues of the Stateless people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. India came to the assistance of the Maldives by preventing an attempted take over by armed mercenaries. India has built its relations with its neighbours like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal on goodwill and trust. Under the guidelines of the Shimla Agreement signed in 1972, India sought to improve its relations with Pakistan which provided for the resolution of outstanding issues peacefully and bilaterally and for establishing durable peace in the subcontinent.

The strengthening of regional cooperation has been a significant achievement of India’s foreign policy. India is an active member of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) launched in 1985. Recent steps have been undertaken by SAARC to accelerate the pace of economic cooperation.

The South Asian Preferential Trade Association (SAPTA) strove to achieve the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) by 2001. The emergence of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) proved to be an efficient instrument of cooperation in the larger region.

India has always responded to changing developments. The emergence of the Central Asian Republics after the break up of the Soviet Union was one such development. India built bilateral relations with each of these Republics. In resent years countries of Central and East Europe shifted to political pluralism and market oriented structures wherein India took the initiative to build upon existing business and institutional linkages in order to further strengthen the traditional ties of friendship with the countries of this region.

The Gulf countries have around three million Indians employed and are of political and strategic importance for India. It serves as a major export market for Indian products and India’s foreign policy lays an added emphasis on maintaining friendly relations with these countries.

India has developed friendly relations with China and is seeking to find a reasonable and fair and mutually acceptable solution to the outstanding border issue. Bilateral trade and economic cooperation is the outcome with an Agreement on Confidence Building Measures as part of a wider dialogue on security being signed.

The United States of America and India are two dynamic democracies pursuing bilateral relations. They are building their relationship on common ideals and have continued to grow with the 15 countries of the European Union and Japan. India has therefore preserved its economic reforms and national reforms from the weight of conventionality. The key component of India’s foreign policy is economic diplomacy. An Investment Publicity Unit (IPU) was set up in 1990 with a view to broadcast economic information and coordinate commercial activities of Indian missions in the light of the recent economic reforms.

A significant factor underlying the success of India’s foreign policy is its ability of cut across the political divides that prevail throughout boundaries and based in principles that were articulated by the forefathers of the nation.

Asia comprises of more than half the world. It is the world’s largest and most populous continent accommodation nearly 60 percent of the global population. It is the land that cradles several of the world’s greatest civilizations and is the bearer of some of the world’s most practiced religions — Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism and Taoism. India holds a prestigious position at the crossroads of Asia’s main cultural and geopolitical zones.

Today India needs to complement its economic exchanges with a more active dialogue on political and security issues at all levels. We are in the process of creating a new, pluralistic cooperative security order in sync with the diversity of the Asia-Pacific region that goes hand in hand with the transition from a world distinguished by balance of power and challenging military coalition.

As the largest country in South Asia, India shoulders the responsibility for the welfare of the region. The aim is to establish peace, stability and zeal for cooperation. India’s foreign policy is based on mutual interests and understanding and this approach will help awaken a sense of shared destiny and steer in a new era of cooperation and prosperity respecting the integrity and sovereignty of every nation.