Conveying that there will be no let up in India's drive to modernise its energy and defence sectors, prime minister's special envoy Shyam Saran said on Tuesday this should encourage Washington to look at New Delhi as a source of demand for its goods and services.
With the Nuclear Suppliers Group draft set to be amended because of demands from some member countries, the government in Delhi on Sunday held a high-level meeting to analyse the new development and discuss options available to it. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee held hour-long discussions with Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Nuclear Deal Shyam Saran and senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Atomic Energy on the issue.
"References made by President Obama did seem to suggest that there is some kind of a link between the settlement on Pakistan's western border and the Kashmir issue. Certainly that had caused concern," he told Karan Thapar's India Tonight programme. "I do think that we could make President Obama understand, if he does have any such views then he is barking up the wrong tree," he said.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday said that Pakistan had given a 'blank cheque' to China, authorising it to negotiate with India on its behalf to deal with the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.Speaking at a reception at the Chinese embassy in Islamabad on Wednesday night, Qureshi said he had told Chinese special envoy He Yafei to "go to Delhi and you have a blank cheque from us".
He has been named as special envoy of the diplomatic quartet pushing for peace in Middle East.
Two special envoys of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, will hold two days of talks with Chinese authorities in Beijing from Tuesday on the vexed Tibet issue.
The UN's special envoy to Myanmar said that the military junta has taken positive steps to move towards dialogue with the opposition, a statement which was downplayed by the US and Britain, but received positively by China and Russia.
Amid growing world pressure on India over Myanmar issue, United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari on Monday met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon who emphasized that New Delhi favoured democracy in the neighbouring country, but opposed coercion.
As Australia is one of the world's biggest uranium-producing countries, its attitude will be critical to India's efforts to open up trade in nuclear materials.
India's credibility for initiating such a campaign will now be particularly high as it itself had become a nuclear weapon power, said India's Special Envoy for West Asia and the Middle East Peace Process.
The Palestinian President also welcomed India's friendly relations with Israel saying it can be 'a factor of support' considering the historic Indo-Palestine ties and help in pushing forward the peace process.
Part of the focus of the current discussions is also on the "next steps" that are involved in the civilian nuclear initiative such as status of India's negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency on India-specific safeguards and the NSG
India on Thursday said it will scale up nuclear energy production to 60,000 megawatts by 2030 after signing the pending N-deals with more countries.
Australia's new government on Tuesday said that it will not sell uranium to India until the country signs the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Last year, the previous federal government struck an in-principle agreement with India to sell uranium to the country. The deal was to be subject to strict conditions, including guarantees that the uranium would be used for power generation only, despite India not being a signatory to the NPT.
Differences among the Association of South-East Asian Nations came to the fore on Tuesday night when 10 heads of governments aborted a briefing by United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari on the Myanmar situation after Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein strongly opposed the move.
The two deliberated on how to go about in implementing the agreement, with the US Ambassador emphasising the need for taking the next steps as early as possible as delay could endanger the agreement
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also likely to be in Beijing in November or December, the State-owned China Daily said a day after India's Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon held talks with senior Chinese officials on a range of issues
Talking about opposition by the Left parties to the growing ties with Washington, the Prime Minister's envoy said, "Whatever be the reservations that have been expressed about our relations with the US, no other friendly country, member of the NSG has the necessary standing to lead the process of opening up the existing multilateral regime to accommodate India".
Jolie, who has six children with husband Brad Pitt, was given the award during a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
The decision is significant as it comes in the midst of India's efforts to lobby support in the international community for its civil nuclear energy ambitions.
With India and China becoming more powerful and tilting the balance to the East, it is necessary for the West to seek partnership with them instead of struggling "for hegemony" in the "new world", former British premier Tony Blair has said. "In the next two decades China and India will undergo industrialisation four times the size of the United States and at five times the speed," Blair, now a special envoy to the Middle East, told the Yale alumni.
Oil experts from Iran and Pakistan will meet in Teheran on Tuesday to add finishing touches to the $7-billion gas pipeline project linking the two countries as well as India, which is not attending the talks, a media report said.
Norway's special envoy to Colombo Jon Hanssen-Bauer said in an interview to PTI that India was to be the main partner for Sri Lanka in the future, and that Oslo was in regular touch with New Delhi over the issue of peace process in its neighbouring country.Norway had brokered the now-defunct ceasefire treaty between the Sri Lankan government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2002.
Saran is on a visit to Australia and New Zealand to try and assuage their concerns with regard to backing India's nuclear aspirations.
India's growing relationship with Israel is not at the the expense of New Delhi's traditional commitment to the Palestinian cause, a top Indian diplomat has said while attempting to give a push to the West Asia peace process.
India can play an important role in pushing ahead the peace process as it is an influential country due to the relations it has with the key players in the world.
Here are some of the images from the parade.
The surprise retirement of Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who played a seminal role in finalising the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, will take "some of the focus away" from the accord but his continuation as special envoy will help in its early conclusion, experts said.
The resolution, drafted by France and Tunisia, 'demands a general and immediate cessation of hostilities in all situations on its agenda and supports the efforts undertaken by the Secretary-General and his Special Representatives and Special Envoys'.
'No matter what Modi may boast about 'new India', the geopolitical reality is that India's stature diminishes when it needs a small country like Saudi Arabia under an autocratic ruler to help out with what is arguably one of the most critical templates of its diplomacy,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
He replaces Shyam Saran, who has been designated as India's special envoy for the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Saran and Burns will have deliberations on conceptual issues that have an impact and bearing on the negotiations on the agreement.
The Volcker panel had named Natwar Singh, who was divested of External Affairs Ministry, and the Congress party among the non-contractual beneficiaries of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
MEA bids farewell to Saran; to take charge as N-deal special envoy
Japan's special envoy Yasushi Akashi is likely to meet LTTE leaders to kickstart the stalled peace process.
Senior Congress leader Karan Singh has emerged as the frontrunner along with another party veteran S M Krishna for appointment as external affairs minister.
Even as demonetisation continued to be the hot topic in Parliament, forcing adjournments in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, other topics too were discussed in Parliament. Here are the other issues that were discussed.
Chatterjee said rules did not ordinarily permit the House taking up a motion on a subject pending before a court of inquiry but he had exercised his discretionary powers to allow the debate.
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