SUO MOTO STATEMENT ON SAARC SUMMIT BY PRIME MINISTER
SHRI ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE
IN LOK SABHA/RAJYA SABHA
ON 3 AUGUST 1998
SIR,
Over the last few weeks, Government has kept the House regularly informed about
developments in the field of international relations and our foreign policy. I take
this opportunity to bring Honourable Members up-to-date on the most recent events,
especially SAARC, our relations with Pakistan, and the recent ARF and ASEAN dialogue
meetings.
2. I visited Colombo from 28th -31st July, 1998 to participate in the 10th SAARC Summit.
I was accompanied by Commerce Minister, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission,
as well as Minister of State for External Affairs who led our delegation at the
Ministerial level meeting preceding the Summit.
3. The Summit reaffirmed the common desire of SAARC Member States to strengthen
cooperation in the region. There was general agreement with our perception
that to meet the challenges and to avail of the opportunities presented by the
substantially transformed global economic situation, it was essential to enhance bilateral
as well as SAARC regional, economic, social and technical cooperation. The agenda
and the discussions during the Summit were focussed on these areas.
4. It was agreed that SAARC must move purposefully towards setting up a Free Trade
Area; a group of experts will be set up to negotiate a comprehensive legal framework
for this purpose incorporating schedules for liberalised trade and facilitation measures,
taking into account least developed countries'concerns. Parallel steps will be
taken to conclude the third round of the trade negotiations under the South Asian
Preferential Trading Arrangement, and to commence the next round.
5. We have reiterated our commitment to, and readiness for bold initiatives to speed up
trade liberalisation. I announced our Government's decision to lift all Quantitative
Restrictions preferentially, on imports from SAARC countries, with effect from August 1,
1998. This is a decision with far-reaching positive economic and developmental
consequences for the region and has been welcomed. We also made known our readiness
to enter into bilateral free trade arrangements with interested SAARC countries. Sri
Lanka has taken up this offer.
6. In our discussion, it was recognised that the benefits of trade liberalisation
would be more extensive and balanced through promoting trade-related joint ventures,
investment and trade-in-services such as tourism. India's decision to substantially
increase the ceiling for investment from India under the fast track in SAARC countries,
from US $ 8 to US $ 15 million has also been welcomed. This will encourage a greater
flow of Indian investment and stimulate trade.
7. Important initiatives have been taken in the social sector: to illustrate, a Social
Charter for SAARC, agreement to finalise a convention to combat Illegal Trafficking in
Women and Children. This is to be signed at the next SAARC Summit. A
regional convention on child welfare will also be developed.
8. We underlined the importance of cooperation in energy through networking. India
has, further, offered to host a special meeting of Science and Technology Ministers
to consider a SAARC S&T initiative for regional projects in rural areas, directly
benefiting the people. We also underlined the utility of cooperation in traditional
systems of medicines and have invited participation in a Health Ministers' meeting in
India for this purpose. India has reaffirmed support for comprehensive environment related
proposals.
9. I would also like to draw attention to my bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the
Summit, with the Presidents of Maldives and Sri Lanka, the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh
and Nepal and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bhutan. These
meetings provided the occasion for renewing our friendly contact, for fruitful discussions
enabling a review of our bilateral relations and of progress in specific areas of
cooperation, as well as for sharing our perceptions.
10. I took the opportunity, in my interaction with other leaders, to reiterate our
commitment to peace and stability, setting at rest misconceptions about our recent nuclear
tests. Our initiatives for confidence building and disarmament have been appreciated.
There was agreement on the need to commence purposeful negotiations towards a
comprehensive and non-discriminatory global nuclear disarmament regime and a nuclear
weapon-free world.
11. We have conveyed our appreciation to the Sri Lankan Government for the excellent
arrangements made for the Summit, and in particular to President Chandrika Kumaratunga for
the vision and efficiency with which she steered the Summit deliberations. We wish
her well in her new responsibility in chairing SAARC. We assure Sri Lanka of our
full support .
12. In my interaction with Pakistan PM, Mr. Muhammed Nawaz Sharif, which included a long
meeting on July 29, I reiterated our commitment to developing peaceful and friendly ties
with Pakistan, and our interest in a secure, stable and prosperous Pakistan. I urged
that we should work together to develop trust and confidence, and avail of the many
opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation in the economic, social and other fields
so that we can improve the lives of peoples. I further underlined the need to work
together to address our differences in a rational and realistic manner. The
atmosphere of our discussions was cordial and constructive. I look forward to
continuing a purposeful interaction with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
13. My discussions with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also focussed on our official level
dialogue. Honourable Members will recall that such a dialogue had been resumed last
year, and that the subjects for discussion were jointly identified in June, 1997.
The modalities for this purpose have not yet been finalised. We directed our
Foreign Secretaries to meet and complete this exercise.
14. India has consistently underlined its commitment to a direct, composite dialogue with
Pakistan. Such a comprehensive and sustained process will contribute to building
trust and confidence, promote mutually beneficial co-operation and help address bilateral
issues. The dialogue must address the totality of the relationship and not be
pursued in a narrow, segmented fashion which would defeat its very purpose which is
to build a wide ranging and enduring relationship. A direct bilateral interaction
which seeks to generate confidence and foster co-operation in functional areas, and
enhanced people to people contacts would also help create a positive climate, in which
difficult issues under discussion could be purposefully addressed. It is
recognised by the international community that all outstanding issues between India and
Pakistan, including Jammu and Kashmir should be settled bilaterally in a peaceful manner.
The modalities which we have suggested would help ensure that the process moves
forward on a broad front in a constructive and sustained manner, while at the same time
providing a meaningful opportunity for discussions on confidence building measures,
cooperation and dealing with outstanding issues, as part of a composite process.
15. Our Foreign Secretaries met in Colombo and exchanged views on this subject. We
will remain engaged in the process and continue contacts through diplomatic
channels, to work out an agreement, so that the dialogue could be continued.
16. During my talks with PM Nawaz Sharif , I also emphasised that instigation and support
of terrorism was incompatible with our common desire for friendly and peaceful relations
and that these activities must cease immediately.
17. Honourable Members are aware that we also participated in this year's ASEAN
Post-Ministerial Conference which is an important part of ASEAN's interaction with
its dialogue partners, as well as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Meetings, held on
July 24-29. Our delegation was led by Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. My
government has reaffirmed the policy of strengthening cooperation with countries in ASEAN
and the Asia Pacific Region as a whole. Apart from bilateral contacts, we have also
established active communication with them in the framework of the dialogue partnership
and ARF. Our participation in these meetings this year, was particularly
important, as it provided an opportunity to once again clarify our policy on nuclear
disarmament in the context of the recent tests, as well as to demonstrate our
continued engagement in the economic and political stability of the region and share
perceptions on regional and international developments. While the ARF
"Chairman's Statement" contained a paragraph disapproving of the recent
tests in South Asia, with which we disassociated ourselves, we also found a better
overall understanding on the part of ASEAN countries of the rationale of our policy,
as well as of the need for purposeful moves by the Nuclear Weapon states towards
comprehensive, universal nuclear disarmament on a non-discriminatory basis. We
assure the ASEAN countries that we fully respected the status of the Nuclear Weapon
Free Zone in South East Asia.
18. Our interaction with ASEAN reflected an understanding that cooperation and
dialogue partnership with India had made good progress, and that we needed to jointly
consolidate this through implementation of projects and measures under discussion, in
trade and investment, infrastructure and human resource development, tourism, culture and
people to people contacts.
19. The leader of our delegation also had constructive and forward looking discussions
with the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN countries, Russia, China, Australia and New Zealand,
the US Secretary of State and the Ministers of State of Japan and the United Kingdom.
Our bilateral and multilateral interaction in the ASEAN and ARF meetings has helped
our post-Pokhran -II diplomatic efforts. Our overall approach, and importance of the
steps we have taken to address international and regional security concerns is better
acknowledged. There is also continued recognition that India is a factor for peace,
stability in the region.
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