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Krishna says India supports a stable Pakistan, wants environment free of terror
New Delhi, January 8, 2010
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today said India supported a stable Pakistan at peace with itself and the region and wished to address its differences with the neighbour through dialogue. "At the same time, we have made it clear that a meaningful dialogue will be possible only in an environment free of terrorism," he said at the 8th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) convention here. Mr Krishna said that, after the Mumbai attacks of 26 November 2008, which India has blamed on elements based in Pakistan, Islamabad had taken some halting measures to address the evidence presented to it. "However, we are still to see Pakistan take effective steps to end infiltration and dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism. As the Prime Minister has said - should Pakistan show the statesmanship and vision to act resolutely against terrorists, India would be willing to meet it more than half-way," he told the annual convention of persons of Indian origin (PIOs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs) organised by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. Turning to India's relations with other neighbours, he said India and China had together been prosperous and powerful before and could be so again in the future. "There is space for both of us to grow and meet our people’s aspirations. The relationship we have with China is complex but increasingly diverse both in texture and substance," he said. Mr Krishna said China was now India’s largest trading partner and there was convergence in their views on many global issues including the emerging architecture on world trade and on climate change. He said there were, however, important bilateral issues that could not be wished away. "We seek to resolve these peacefully, through dialogue. The maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas will receive close and continuing attention in this scenario," he said. He spoke of India's exceptionally close and friendly ties with Bhutan and of India's support for Nepal's transition to a democratic polity. He also gave details of the humanitarian assistance being provided to Sri Lanka and hoped the process of rehabilitation of internally displaced persons would be completed at an early date. He said that the return of multiparty democratic politics in Bangladesh was a positive development. "We have been assured that Bangladesh’s territory will not be allowed to be used by elements inimical to India, as we pursue mutually beneficial cooperation in many other areas," he said. The Minister also spoke of India's viital interests in the regions of West Asia, South East Asia, North East Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe, not least due to the presence of significant populations of the Indian diaspora in several countries in these regions. He also dwelt at length on the country's relations with the major powers - Russia and the United States. Mr Krishna said the over arching objective of the country's foreign policy was to work towards a stable and peaceful environment, globally and also in its immediate neighbourhood, so that it could attain its national objectives of comprehensive socio-economic development.
"Our relations with Russia are time tested and we are giving a fresh impetus to bilateral cooperation with them in areas such as nuclear energy, space technology and defence. With the United States, we are building on the positive momentum achieved in the last few years. Our new dialogue mechanism reflects the increasingly global dimensions of our bilateral discourse. India’s established capabilities in high technology and our impeccable record of using these technologies in a responsible and transparent manner are creating opportunities for upgrading our access to high technology. The Indian community in the United States has played a particularly active role in fostering our growing bilateral relationship and I want to place on record our appreciation of their contribution," he said.
"In doing so, we are often required to strike a creative balance between our bilateral relations with major global powers and our national interests on complex issues ranging from world trade and nuclear non proliferation to climate change and the environment," he said.
He spoke of the accelerated shift of global economic power to emerging economies like India, Brazil and China.
On the Doha Round of trade negotiations, he said India had always stressed upon the importance of an early and successful conclusion of the talks. "But this must happen on the basis of the development mandate that is intrinsic to the Doha Round, recognizing and addressing the legitimate demands of developing countries. We must also carefully guard against emerging protectionist tendencies," he said.
He said that, on climate change, India had at the recent Copenhagen summit put forth the view that since the industrialized countries were primarily responsible for the accumulation of green house gases over the last two hundred years, they should bear the bulk of the cost of mitigation and enable the transfer of necessary technology for this purpose.
He said India could not accept legally binding emission caps when it has one of the lowest per capita emissions in the world.
"As a responsible member of the global community, and for the sake of our own environment, we have taken several major initiatives towards limiting our carbon footprint. We are today among the largest producers of wind and solar energy. Our biogas utilisation programmes have been path-breaking. We have adopted an ambitious National Action Plan for Climate Change, providing inter alia for afforestation, energy efficiency and monitoring of Himalayan glaciers," he said.
Mr Krishna said these efforts would get a boost if India had access to some of the clean technologies from developed countries.
"It is disappointing to see that the same countries that readily pledged a trillion dollars to fight the global financial crisis, offered barely a hundredth of that amount to enable developing countries fight the environmental crisis," he remarked.
NNN
