Declaring India's readiness to contribute to global efforts to overcome the economic crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Yekaterinburg on Monday night to attend the Summits of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Brazil-Russia-India-China.
Responding to New Delhi's concerns, Bangladesh on Monday gave a commitment of not allowing its territory to be used for anti-India activities, as the two countries discussed a proposal for setting up a regional task force to tackle the menace. Reaching out to the new government in Dhaka, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee held talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and Home Minister Sahara Katun and conveyed concerns.
In an apparent reference to Pakistan, India on Monday said hurdles in the global war against terror are created by "unwillingness" or lack of "sincerity" on part of countries and any "architecture or framework" does not "stand in the way" of fighting the menace.
India and Bangladesh on Monday signed two agreements to further cement their trade and investment ties as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee hailed the recent upward swing in bilateral relations.
"Nests and sanctuaries are located in territories of some countries," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Kabul on Thursday, adding that there was no need to name them. Maintaining that all countries should fulfil their international and bilateral obligations and deny sanctuary to terrorists, Mukherjee said: "They will have to fight against the menace of terrorism at whatever cost."
A total of six Indians, including a Border Roads Organisation driver and four ITBP soldiers, and 129 Afghans were killed in these attacks. The 215-km long Delaram-Zaranj highway, a symbol of India's developmental work in the war-ravaged country, was handed over to Afghan authorities by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta.
This mission, tentatively scheduled for 2013, will be the precursor to Indian Space Research Organisation's maiden human spaceflight planned to be launched in 2015. India and Russia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Activities in the Field of Human Spaceflight Programme during the recent visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
During the negotiations, which began on September 4, both the proponents and sceptics stuck to their positions but finally reached common ground on Saturday after American prodding and deft diplomacy by New Delhi.
Hectic negotiations on India getting NSG waiver are going down to the wire with last-minute changes being pushed by sceptic countries to incorporate their concerns in the draft to hammer out a consensus.After four rounds of discussions that spilled over late into Friday night, Austria, which was among a couple of countries holding out, gave enough indications that 'more work still' needs to be done that will enable India cross a major hurdle in operationalising the N-deal.
After a day-long meeting on Thursday, delegates to the 45-member nuclear cartel expressed optimism over a consensus to end the country's three-decade long nuclear isolation by Friday. "We are close to a consensus. There may be a statement for the Press on Friday," a western diplomat, who refused to be identified either by name or country, said after the delegates considered a revised US draft waiver at the conclusion of 2nd session of the opening day of the two-day meeeting.
The draft of the proposal for the India-specific exemption at the Nuclear Suppliers Group has undergone further changes which include a provision for regular information by its head about New Delhi's adherence to its guidelines on global atomic trade, a move aimed at pacifying countries having reservations over the waiver to India.
Recognising the "serious threat" posed by terrorism to the peace and stability of South Asia, the 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit on Sunday in a declaration supported "strongest possible cooperation" against the menace and signed a key agreement in this regard.
After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveyed his concern over the Indian embassy attack in Kabul, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Colombo and discussed the incident for which Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has been blamed.
Buoyed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's approval of the India-specific safeguards pact, the US on Sunday vowed to push through expeditiously the Nuclear Suppliers Group process but said New Delhi would have to answer a lot of questions to secure a waiver from the 45-nation bloc when it meets later this month.
India has received a positive response from the Non-Aligned Movement countries, which are members of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group on the Indo-US nuclear deal after it briefed them on the safeguards agreement, which the global nuclear watchdog will consider on Friday.
India has said any unilateral armed action against Iran is totally 'unacceptable and undesirable' and should be disapproved of by the international community. "In respect of Iran, I entirely agree with the Egyptian Foreign Minister that there should be no armed engagement. In fact we are against any coercive engagement," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said after holding talks with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit in Cairo on Thursday night.
Describing terrorism as a "common menace," Pakistan Wednesday agreed to fight it jointly with India and gave a commitment for maintaining ceasefire on the Line of Control. After extensive talks between External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the two sides also reported progress on Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek issues and expressed willingness to push forward the confidence building measures.
After a six-month pause, India and Pakistan on Tuesday resumed their composite dialogue with the Foreign Secretaries meeting here to discuss various bilateral issues including terrorism, Kashmir and confidence building measures. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his counterpart Salman Bashir held delegation level discussions to review the fourth round of composite dialogue. Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek and various confidence building measures were discussed.
Projecting a whopping Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) economic engagement with Bhutan in areas like telecom, infrastructure and education, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday unveiled a mega plan for cooperation in the power sector.
"I have come with a message that India stands ready to join hands with the people and the government of Bhutan to strengthen our relationship to do our bid for accelerated development of Bhutan," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters after he arrived on a two-day visit to the country. Dr Singh, who became the first international leader to visit Bhutan after it entered the club of democratic nations in March, received a warm reception at Paro International Airport.
