November 20, 2001

Sir,

    Between November 4 to 13, 2001, I paid bilateral visits to Russia, USA and UK, and addressed the 56^th session of the United Nations General Assembly. I met the Presidents of Argentina, Cyprus and Iran and the Prime Minister of Mauritius on the margins of the General Assembly.

    These visits and meetings focussed on the broader, long-term agenda of our bilateral relationships with these countries. They also provided the opportunity for consultations on important international issues, including the campaign against terrorism and post-conflict challenges in Afghanistan.

    My State visit to Russia fulfilled a bilateral decision on annual summit meetings, made during President Putin’s visit to India in October 2000. My discussions with the Russian leadership confirmed the congruence of our geostrategic outlook and consolidated our bilateral strategic partnership. They also highlighted the enormous scope for further economic, scientific, technological, defence, atomic energy and space cooperation.

    The Moscow Declaration on terrorism and our bilateral joint statement, together with the several agreements concluded during the visit, map the contours of our future cooperation. We also agreed on the further development our close defence cooperation and cooperation in atomic energy and space.

    We discussed new areas of bilateral economic cooperation, including the diversification of our trade basket. To compensate for the anticipated reduction of Indian exports financed by rupee debt repayment, promising new areas of trade in information technology, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and diamonds need to be energetically explored. Simultaneously, Russian imports of traditional commodities like tea and tobacco should be sustained. We also discussed the release of rupee payment funds for Russian investment in Indian enterprises.

    We discussed an institutionalised bilateral dialogue on energy security, which we hope to commence soon. India’s investment in the Sakhalin project already represents a beginning of our cooperation in the field.

    Four chairs of Indian studies have been established in academic institutions in different cities of Russia. Partnership agreements have been concluded between Gujarat and the Astrakhan region and between Hyderabad and Kazan city. These arrangements will strengthen people-to-people, educational and cultural cooperation.

    Since March 2000, India and USA have established a wide-ranging dialogue for closer relations. My visit to Washington, at the invitation of President George W. Bush, focussed on strengthening this dialogue architecture from a long-term perspective.

    President Bush categorically affirmed that his administration is committed to intensifying our bilateral engagement over a wide canvas.

    We agreed to resume and broaden the Bilateral Economic Dialogue and extend our cooperation to energy, environment, health, biotechnology and information technology. We will soon initiate discussions on cooperation space programmes and civilian nuclear safety projects.

    The India-US Defence Policy Group has been reactivated and will meet in December. We agreed to discuss ways to stimulate bilateral high technology commerce and to streamline procedures for transfers of dual use and military items. The lifting of economic and technology restrictions should help this process.

    I had extensive interactions with a wide cross-section of members of the US Congress. I met the leaders of both parties in the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as members of the House International Relations Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The bipartisan nature of support in USA for strong bilateral relations with India was yet again emphasised.

    The visit demonstrated a new vigour in India-US relations. There are excellent long-term prospects for their expansion and diversification, both in the bilateral and in the wider international context.

    Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom invited me to stop over in London for a working visit on my way back to Delhi from New York.

    Prime Minister Blair and I continued the dialogue which we had in New Delhi during his brief halt in October. We reviewed a number of aspects of our bilateral relations, which have seen a remarkable surge in strength and diversity in recent years. These discussions will be continued in greater detail in the near future when Prime Minister Tony Blair pays an official visit to India. We expect this visit to take place very early next year.

    My address to the United Nations General Assembly highlighted two themes of vital concern to all of us – the threat to civilized societies from international terrorism and the challenge of equitable development. In democratic and multicultural developing countries, there is often a strong inverse correlation between terrorism and development.

    We have to reject arcane and unproductive arguments on the definition of international and state-sponsored terrorism or their root causes. The universal revulsion against terrorism after September 11 should be exploited to single-mindedly destroy all terrorism everywhere.

    Developing countries have recently faced some hard realities of the impact of globalization on domestic poverty levels and income gaps. The results of Doha again underline the urgent need for a Global Dialogue on Development, Resource generation for poverty alleviation has to occupy pride of place in this dialogue. It should dominate the economic agenda, not only of NAM and G-77, but also of North-South interactions.

    In all my bilateral discussions, I found a broad identity of views on a comprehensive approach to international terrorism and about the situation in and the future of Afghanistan. There can be no political, economic or ideological justification for terrorism. The campaign against terrorism is, of course, not to target any religion. The international community will need to summon the necessary political will to ensure that all funding and safe havens are totally denied to terrorists everywhere.

    Similarly, there was a convergence of views on the need for a broadbased, representative, independent and neutral government in Afghanistan. The urgency for massive international assistance for reconstruction of that country was emphasized. India’s legitimate interest in the political and economic future of Afghanistan was also widely acknowledged. It was generally accepted that a more representative framework than the 6+2 grouping is required for consultations on the future political structure and the economic agenda in Afghanistan. Subsequently, on November 16, India participated in a meeting of 21 countries in New York under the aegis of the United Nations, held to specifically discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

    We will remain engaged with other countries on future political and humanitarian arrangements in Afghanistan. We will also continue to maintain and strengthen our traditional links of solidarity with the government and all the people of Afghanistan.

    Hon’ble Members would appreciate that though the situation in Afghanistan during the last fortnight or so has altered radically, and the United Front/Northern Alliance has moved into various urban centres of Afghanistan including the capital – Kabul, it is still fluid and rapidly changing.

    The government is fully monitoring the situation and is in continuous touch with all the relevant parties and groups.