STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER SHRI ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE ON HIS VISIT TO TURKEY AND NEW YORK [FOR UNGA]

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Following is the statement by the Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari on September 26, after the conclusion of his state visits to Turkey and New York .

Today, I conclude my visit to Turkey and to New York for the UNGA.

In Turkey, I sought to establish contact with the new leadership and to renew our age-old historical links with that country. During my discussions with the Turkish leadership, we agreed that the enormous potential for cooperation needs to be tapped for mutual benefit. We agreed to set up a Bilateral Working Group of Economic Ministries to identify new opportunities. Trade should be expanded and there should be increased contact between Indian and Turkish business and industry. Agreements were signed on setting up a Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism, Science and Technology, as well as a Protocol on Information Technology. To increase the frequency of our contacts, I invited Prime Minister Erdogan to visit India at an early date. Other Indian and Turkish Ministers will also be in touch with their counterparts on a regular basis.

During my visit to New York, besides my statement to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, I met the Presidents of Russia, USA, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, and the Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Portugal. Apart from these bilateral meetings, I had an informal trilateral dinner meeting with the Presidents of Brazil and South Africa as part of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum.

With President Bush, I discussed ways of carrying forward the new transformation in India-US relations. Naturally, we also discussed regional and international issues.

I welcomed the opportunity to carry forward my dialogue with President Putin of Russia. We discussed the extensive range of our bilateral cooperation, as well as our shared perspectives on international matters. I am looking forward to meeting President Putin in Moscow this November.

President Karzai was appreciative of India’s assistance for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. I conveyed our fullest support to him and our willingness to extend further assistance to the government of Afghanistan. He briefed me on the situation in Afghanistan, including on the security problems and on economic reconstruction.

With the President of Nigeria, we discussed bilateral relations and issues relating to the forthcoming Commonwealth Summit and CMAG. In the context of the impasse at the Cancun Ministerial meeting, we agreed that it is important for developing countries to remain focussed on the issues of concern to them

My meeting with the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka was part of our frequent and wide-ranging dialogue. We spoke about the future prospects of the peace process in that country. I reiterated that we welcome the process of dialogue which the Sri Lankan Government is pursuing, and hope it will lead to peace between the various communities in that country. I will meet the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka again in Delhi in October.

The meeting with the Prime Minister of Mauritius maintained the tradition of regular and close contact between the leaderships of our two countries. We look forward to receiving the new Prime Minister of Mauritius in India this November.

In my meeting with the Prime Minister of Portugal, we agreed to find ways of expanding our bilateral economic cooperation, to realize the existing potential. We agreed that we will work towards an early conclusion of an Extradition Treaty.

I have just met the President of Zimbabwe, who briefed me on developments in that country and in Southern Africa.

During this visit to New York, I outlined our assessment of the present status and prospects for India-US relations at the Asia Society. At Columbia University, I dwelt on the achievements of the Indian economy and our vision for the future.

An important part of my visit to New York this year, as before, was the extensive interaction I have enjoyed with the Indian American community at a public meeting, a reception and in meetings with several representative groups of the community. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s effort to organize a Conference of Indian Literature here is a laudable initiative, and I was happy to inaugurate the Conference yesterday.

It was evident from my interactions here, as well as those of members of my delegation, that there is widespread concern about the role and efficacy of the United Nations in the wake of recent world developments. The need for reform and restructuring of its institutions is being emphasized. Iraq remains a test case for the international community’s ability to work together to resolve a difficult issue of far-reaching impact. Another recurrent theme was the need for salvaging the dialogue between the developing and the developed countries on realization of the Millennium Development Goals. This was also discussed at the IBSA Dialogue Forum.