INDIA'S FOREIGN RELATIONS-2008 - The Ministry of External Affairs

2884 Pages·2009·5.76 MB·English

INDIA’S FOREIGN
RELATIONS-2008
Introduced & Edited by
AVTAR SINGH BHASIN
PUBLISHED IN COOPERATION WITH
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY DIVISION MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
GEETIKA PUBLISHERS
AVTAR SINGH BHASIN
(b.1935). BA (HONS); MA in History. Initially he had short stints of ser-
vice in the National Archives of India and the Ministry of Defence. In 1963
he joined the Minsitry of External Affairs where he served for three
decades, retiring in 1993 as Director of the Historical Divison. He was
posted in Indian missions in Nepal, Bonn, Vienna and Lagos. He travelled
to several other countries in the discharge of his duties in the Minsitry.
Some of the countries visited were USA, China, South Africa, Kenya,
Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary etc. He was member of
several ministerial and official delegations for discussions with various countries both in
India and abroad.
Since retirement he has taken to academic research. He was Senior Fellow of the Indian
Council of Historical Research from 1994-96. He was Honorary Fellow of the Institute of
Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library from 1997 to 2001. He
has edited and authored several books on South Asian affairs. He also contributed many
articles in newspapers on developments in the neighbouring countries. His 75 pieces on
Partition and Freedom were published in the Asian Age consecutively from June 1 to
August 14, 1997 coinciding with the Golden jubilee celebrations of the Indian indepen-
dence.
This is the sixth volume in the annual series: INDIA'S FOREIGN RELATIONS, published in
cooperation with the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs,
Government of India.
The debate on India-US Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation Agreement during the year
dominated the foreign policy discourse. The Left Parties and the principal opposition
party the BJP each for its own reasons, opposed the agreement. The intellectual com-
munity too was vertically divided on the desirability of the agreement.
To the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Agreement is a harbinger of great change
and part of the nuclear renaissance sweeping the world, which he said "India can not
afford to miss". As as first step towards its implementation, India is presently engaged
with the IAEA for an India specific Safeguards agreement.
During the year, regional and inter-regional economic cooperation hogged the limelight.
India hosted the 14 th SAARC Summit and the India-European Union Summit. The Prime
Minister attended the India-ASEAN and East Asia Summits besides the CHOGM and the
G-8 Outreach Summit. The second Summit of the IBSA took place in South Africa while
its Ministers of India, China and Russia met twice in standalone trilateral conference in
New Delhi and Harbin.
On the bilateral side, India-Russia Summits, both in New Delhi and in Moscow provided
greater depth to their Political, Strategic and defence relations
Six hundred sixty-five documents in this compendium are a testimony to the
multifaceted external relations India enjoys today, with the countries across the globe.
ISBN:
978-81-903150-8-1
Price Rs.
:3500.00/-
I
INDIA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS - 2008
DOCUMENTS
PART - I
II
Other books of Avtar Singh Bhasin
1. Some called it Partition, Some Freedom, Last 75 days of the
Raj
2. India–Sri Lanka Relations and Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict
Documents–1947–2000–A set of Five Volumes
3. India in Sri Lanka
Between Lion and the Tigers
4. India–Bangladesh Relations–1971–2002–Documents
A Set of Five Volumes
5. Nepal–India and Nepal–China Relations–1947–June 2005
Documents–A set of Five Volumes
6. India’s Foreign Relations–Documents–Annual Volumes for
2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
III
INDIA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS - 2008
DOCUMENTS
PART - I
Introduced & Edited by
AVTAR SINGH BHASIN
PUBLISHED IN COOPERATION WITH
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY DIVISION
MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
GEETIKA PUBLISHERS
NEW DELHI-110 028
IV
Published by
GEETIKA PUBLISHERS
A-51/II Naraina Vihar, New Delhi-110028
Tele: 011–2577-1897
Mobile :[phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
2009 March-©Avtar Singh Bhasin
ISBN : 978-81-903150-8-1
Printed and Bound in India at
Focus Impressions, New Delhi-110 003
E-mail : [email protected]
[email protected]
Distributed by
Geetika Publishers
A-51/II, Naraina Vihar
New Delhi – 110028
www.geetikapublishers.in
V
President of India
Shrimati Pratibha Devisingh Patil
Vice President of India
Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Prime Minister
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Ministry of External Affairs
External Affairs Minister
Shri Pranab Mukherjee
Minister of State Minister of State
Shri E. Ahamed Shri Anand Sharma
Foreign Secretary Shri Shivshankar Menon
Secretary (East) Shri N. Ravi
Secretary (West) Shri Nalin Surie
Secretary (Economic Relations) Shri Hardip Singh Puri
Dean, Foreign Service Institute Shri Ajai Choudhry
Special Secretaries
Shri Sharat Sabharwal Smt. Parbati Sen Vyas
Shri Vivek Katju Shri D. K. Jain
Shri R. B. Mardhekar
Additional Secretaries
Km. Sarita Bali Shri R. Dayakar
Shri Sanjay Singh Shri Virendra Gupta
Shri Yogendra Kumar
Joint Secretary (Public Diplomacy) Shri Amit Dasgupta
Official Spokesperson Shri Vishnu Prakash
(The deployment shown above is as on December 31, 2008)
VI
Dedicated to the Memory of
V. Venkateswara Rao
who was martyred in the terrorist attack
on the Indian Embassy in Kabul
on July 7, 2008.
VII
INDIA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS – 2008
SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
PART - I
Section – I General
Section – II Climate Change & Environment
Section – III Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation
Section – IV Regional And Inter-Regional Cooperation
PART - II
Section – V Asia
(i) South Asia
(ii) Southeast–East Asia And Pacific
(iii) Central And West Asia
Section – VI Africa
(i) India–Africa Forum Summit
(ii) Africa
Section – VII Americas
(i) North America
(ii) Central And South America
Section – VIII Europe
Section – IX India And The United Nations
Section – X India At The United Nations
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