January 06, 2002

‘3’

THE NEW DELHI DECLARATION: INDIA AND UNITED KINGDOM

    The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his counterpart from United Kingdom, Mr. Tony Blair, signed the New Delhi Declaration, here today. Following is the text of the Declaration.

    "Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Tony Blair today reaffirm the deep partnership between India and U.K; and pledge to work together to identify and develop new areas of partnership between the countries – to the benefit of our peoples, and to help create a better and safer world.

    Terrorism is an attack on the human rights and civil liberties of the citizens of the world. We condemn all acts of terrorism whatever the motivation. We reject the arguments of those who attempt to justify terrorism, which in all its forms must be condemned unambiguously and eradicated wherever it exists.

    The terrorist attacks on 11^th September, 1^st October and 13^th December were deliberate attempts to shatter the peace of our peoples and to undermine democratic values. The attack on the Indian Parliament was an attack on democracy world wide. Those responsible for these crimes must be delivered to justice; they must never be allowed to threaten innocent lives in the future. We condemn all those who support terrorism; those that finance, train or provide support for terrorists share their guilt.

    The UK and India both have long and painful histories of fighting terrorism on their own soil. We offer our shared experiences to the international efforts to eliminate terrorism. We welcome UNSCR 1373 and commit ourselves fully to implement this resolution. We call for the early agreement on, and entry into force of, the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

    Since the events of 11^th September, our ministerial-level collaboration has reached new levels. As Prime Ministers, we have had three substantive meetings in the past four months. Our Foreign and Defence Ministers have been in constant touch.

    Today, we agree to enhance significantly our bilateral co-operation in counter-terrorism, including training, building on the work of the UK/India Joint Working Group on Terrorism.

    Our two governments share a strong commitment to international peace and security. We emphasise the central importance of peaceful resolution of disputes and the critical role of sustained confidence-building in this process. The U.K. continues to view India as a natural contender for permanent membership of the Security Council, and will work with India to achieve it.

    We will continue to work together in support of United Nations’ Peace-Keeping Operations. We welcome the work in hand to improve the effectiveness of UN peace-keeping operations, following the publication of the Brahmi Report in 2000. We look forward to further co-operation between the armed forces of our two countries.

    We share a common perspective and concern about the threats to international peace and security, including from weapons of mass destruction and the risks of such weapons falling to the hands of terrorists. As responsible members of the international community we will also pool our efforts in working towards the objective of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.

    Our two countries have worked closely with the UN and other members of the international community in recent months in support of the establishment of a broad-based, multi-ethnic government and a sovereign and independent Afghanistan that can meet the aspirations of all the people of that countries for development and security. We support the new Interim Authority in Kabul and the processes established in the Bonn Agreement for the establishment of long term democratic structures in Afghanistan. We note with satisfaction the developments in Afghanistan, the establishment of Interim Administration, the elimination of the oppressive Taliban regime and the denial of safe haven to international terrorism. We reaffirm our commitment to contributing to meeting the humanitarian, reconstruction and rehabilitation needs of the Afghan people.

    Working together to eliminate poverty is central to the partnership between India and the UK. The UK Government’s programme of development assistance in India is its largest in world. UK assistance is focussed on strategic nation-wide activities and on support to four partner states (Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal)

    Today, we recommit our two Governments to work together to meet the global target of having the proportion of people in poverty by 2015 - and the Government of India’s national targets for the 10^th Plan period. As its contribution to these targets, the UK intends to triple its development assistance to India, to approximately 300 million pounds (2100 crores of rupees) a year, by 2004.

    The two nations are engaged in a common effort to tackle HIV/AIDS and the eradication of polio throughout the world. India has made remarkable progress towards the eradication of polio. This month we have seen the ratification of agreements for 98 million pounds (686 crores of rupees) of UK Government support for polio eradication in India and 32 million Pounds (225 crores of rupees) for rebuilding primary schools damaged in the Orissa super cyclone. We also expect shortly to sign agreements concerning 123 million pounds (861 crores of rupees) for HIV/AIDS relief.

    Concerted international efforts to promote sustainable development, including the protection of the environment, are essential. We welcome the successful conclusion of negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol in the Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the commitments made to work towards reducing emissions of carbon. Today, we commit ourselves to close co-operation between India and the UK in the run-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

    We undertake to reinforce the strong education links between our two countries taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by the spread of the IT revolution. The India-UK Round Table has already made a substantial contribution to taking forward this agenda. In the UK the 1.3 million strong community of Indian origin is a tangible asset to both countries and demonstrates how multiculturalism can promote cultural as well as economic benefits. Such successful cultural and educational co-operation merits greater reflection in the media of both countries; exchange of journalists as well as linkages between media organisations will be encouraged.

    The Indian Government’s contribution to the development of Indian studies at UK universities is very welcome, for instance the recent launch of Professorship of Indian History and Culture in the University of Oxford through a Government of India endowment of 1.8 million pounds ( 12.6 crores of rupees). The UK Government today announces its intention to increase the value of the Chevening scholarship scheme for Indian students to 2 million pounds (14 crores of rupees) annually. The British Council unveils its new Knowledge and Learning Centre in Delhi, where young professionals will be able to take affordable UK qualifications online.

    India and the UK have some of the best scientists in the world. Science and technology make a vital contribution to the development of bilateral trade and investment. The British Council’s Science and Technology Festival symbolises revitalisation of bilateral links in the field of science. We mandate the UK/India High Level Joint Committee on Science & Technology to reach agreement on new proposals when they meet in the spring, focussing on the networking of our centres of excellence and of our young scientists.

    Bilateral trade reached nearly 5 billion pounds in 2001. The UK is India’s largest trading partner in Europe and its second largest in the world. This is a success story for the Indo-British Partnership. Events in the world economy this year and the repercussions of the 11^th September attacks, have moderated but not reversed the trend.

    Indian investment in the UK has increased apace: Indeed, India is now the eighth largest investor in the UK in terms of number of projects established. The new knowledge-based industries have been important drivers of this growth: of approximately 250 Indian companies now located in the UK, 70-80 are in the ICT sector. And tied to this, there has been a steady growth in the movement of Indian professionals to UK, especially in high skill areas such as IT software, medicine and education.

    The UK is one of the largest cumulative investors in India which is a highly attractive destination in the world for investment. Since 1994, nearly 200 joint ventures between India and British companies have been formed each year. British companies are attracted to the increasing opportunities in India as the government pushes ahead with its programme of economic reform.

    Both countries are determined to realise the enormous potential for further development that still exists. In trade, we will focus together on key sectors where we share our world class expertise, such as IT and health care. Today, we announce the plans of the CII and CBI to hold a major economic seminar in London in July 2002 involving senior CEOs from both countries to look at the global challenges we face together and to explore future opportunities for enhancing the trade and investment relationship.

    The benefits of the increasing globalisation of the world economy should be enjoyed as widely as possible and the negative impacts minimised. In this context, we welcome the agreement at the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Doha on the launch of a "Development" Round of trade negotiations. We agree that our governments should work closely together to promote outcomes that genuinely meet the needs of the developing countries as well as contributing to a substantial liberalisation of international trade.

    It is our firm intention that this vibrant and dynamic partnership between our two countries should make an ever-greater contribution to international peace and development; and to meeting the opportunities and challenges of the economic globalisation in the 21^st century. To help achieve these goals and to ensure that the high level dialogue is maintained in the years to come, we today name Personal Envoys to this end "