Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao reviewed the progress of India-United States strategic dialogue with top Obama administration officials, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and briefed them on the recent Indo-Pak talks as well as New Delhi's view point on Afghanistan.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who faced trolling on social media in the wake of India and Pakistan reaching an understanding on May 10 to halt all military actions, has received support from veteran diplomat Nirupama Menon Rao, a body of Indian diplomats and a host of politicians from several parties.
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns has echoed under secretary of state for political affairs Wendy Sherman's belief that Indians and Americans should consider themselves fortunate and thankful to have a diplomat in the caliber of Nirupama Rao in Washington, DC.
India's Ambassador to China and the new Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said that she is \n\nlooking forward to her new assignment with optimism and is ready for the challenges that \ncome with job.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed the rise of China and the complexities surrounding ties with Beijing.
Ahead of Premier Wen Jiabao's upcoming visit, India on Friday hoped that China realises the need to show more sensitivity on core issues that impinge on the country's 'sovereignty and territorial integrity', as raised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the two countries were also putting in place more confidence building measures to tackle the vexed boundary issue, for which India is making a serious attempt.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who arrived in Islamabad on Thursday on a two-day visit, began talks on Friday with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on Kashmir. The two-day talks have been divided into three segments under which the issue of peace and security, including confidence-building measures, was discussed on Thursday. After Jammu and Kashmir, the talks will be held on the promotion of friendly exchanges
India has assured Sri Lanka of its support to the process of resettlement and rehabilitation of Tamil civilians displaced due to the war and pushed for a political solution to the decades-old ethnic question.
India and the US will have a series of high-level meetings starting from this week with the visit of Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao to that country to set the agenda for President Barack Obama's tour in November.
Dubbing terrorism emanating from across the border as "Frankenstein's monster", India on Thursday said Pakistan has not taken enough steps to control the menace, which is out to harm it.
The American Jewish Committee, in a letter to Ambassador Nirupama Rao, had said they were 'deeply troubled' by news reports of Indian efforts to intensify trade relations with Iran. Suman Guha Mozumder reports.
The Congress party has claimed credit for the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, an accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, from the US, saying the Modi government did not initiate the process and merely benefited from the "mature, consistent and strategic diplomacy" begun under the UPA. Former Home Minister P Chidambaram said the government did not secure any breakthrough to make the extradition possible, nor is it the result of any grandstanding. He added that it was a testament to what the Indian state can achieve when diplomacy, law enforcement and international cooperation are pursued sincerely and without any kind of chest-thumping. Chidambaram detailed the UPA government's efforts in securing Rana's extradition, citing the registration of a case against him in 2009, diplomatic pressure on Canada and the US, and continued efforts despite legal setbacks. He highlighted the role of the UPA in securing Rana's conviction for other terrorism-related offences and the cooperation between the US and Indian agencies in gathering evidence and securing his extradition. The Congress leader further stated that it was the UPA's groundwork that paved the way for Rana's extradition, even after the change in government in 2014.
The uncertainty over the fate of the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill in Parliament has caused a considerable amount of concern to members of the United States-India Business Council, as some of them had lobbied feverishly in the US Congress to get the agreement approved.USIBC President Ron Somers voiced his concerns at an interaction with Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, during her six-day visit to the United States
Hoping for a peaceful resolution of the Iranian crisis, the top Indian diplomat in the United States has cautioned the international community that talk of war will not help in reaching a solution. "The talk of war will not help a solution, it only erodes global cohesion," Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao said while speaking at a session on the 'Role of India in the changing landscape in the 21st Century', in Boston on Wednesday.
India's Ambassador to Washington, DC, Nirupama Rao and her team are doing everything to avoid American wrath, and the resultant legislation of sanctions, against India for not whole-heartedly joining the US-led efforts to isolate Iran. Aziz Haniffa reports
Besides reflecting an "essential continuity" to the ties, the visit will also provide another opportunity to consolidate all that have been built by two countries in the past decade, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said while addressing a gathering in New Delhi.
Setting a positive tone ahead of their meeting in Thimpu, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on Sunday said they would endeavour to find a way forward for continued engagement between the two countries.
Peace talks with Pakistan will resume yet again later this month as Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao meets with her counterpart Salman Bashir. The result is predictable -- the dialogue will go nowhere. India instead should renew its military-to-military ties for a positive outcome with its neighbour, believes noted defence analyst Ajai Shukla.
Was the visit connected to China's recent actions vis-a-vis Pakistan?
Describing India as an 'anchor of stability' in the region and an important partner, an influential United States Congressman has expressed confidence in the future of Indo-US strategic partnership.
Making the first effort to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries, Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan discussed all issues of mutual concern with New Delhi flagging its core concern of terrorism emanating from that country on Thursday.
India's demand that Pakistan should do more to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks to justice is not an "unrealistic" one, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.
India is looking forward to Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar's visit to the country next month for crucial talks between the two sides. This was conveyed by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who is in Islamabad on a two-day visit for talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, to Khar when she called on the Pakistani Minister on Friday morning.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday held talks with US President Barack Obama, the first bilateral summit meeting after nearly three years.
India is "cautiously optimistic" on charting a way forward in the dialogue process with Pakistan and would like to see the process to mature keeping in view ground realities, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday.
Reacting sharply to Pakistan's critical remarks over India's endorsement by the United States for United Nations Security Council, India has expressed its 'disappointment' and said they reflected the 'trust deficit' between the two countries.
Reacting sharply to Pakistan's critical remarks over India's endorsement by the United States for United Nations Security Council, India has expressed its 'disappointment' and said they reflected the 'trust deficit' between the two countries.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who visited Sri Lanka last week and met President Mahinda Rajapakse and senior Sri Lankan officials, has said that India had been reassured over the Lankan government's efforts to return internally-displaced persons to their homes and also hopeful over a future political process to alleviate the lot of the Tamil-speaking community and other minorities.
Amid speculation about an Indo-Pak bilateral meeting in New York this week, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Tuesday said that talks between the two neighbours were necessary but asked Pakistan to first stop supporting terrorism against India originating from its soil. Rao, however, did not respond to a question about an assertion made by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahomood on Monday that Islamabad had sent 'suggestions' to India through diplomatic channels.
India is keen to open a consulate in Jaffna, once a stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday, even as she pressed for political reconciliation among all communities in Sri Lanka so as to usher in peace and harmony."Of course, we have to work out the modalities. Because we feel our office there will help us to be in touch with the local people, help us do assistance programmes, help issue visas," she said.
India on Tuesday assured Tamils displaced by the 30-year-old civil war in Sri Lanka's north of all possible assistance in their resettlement process, as Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao visited the war-ravaged towns and interacted with locals.
Rao asserted that India has been transparent on this issue with international partners given its enormous energy security needs.
"China is our largest neighbour and its rise is a reality that entire world faces today," Rao said in her remarks at the University of California-Berkeley on Monday.
On Tuesday, members of Congress from both the Democratic and Republican parties wrote to India's ambassador, Nirupama Rao, asking the Indian government to reconsider its PMA policy and its impact on the information and communications technology sector.
Addressing New Delhi's concerns about peace talks with Taliban, the United States told India that it will not let the rebels enter a power sharing agreement in Afghanistan, according to leaked US cables by Wikileaks.
India on Thursday asked Sri Lanka to move beyond the resettlement of people displaced due to the civil war in the country's north and find a political solution to the long-pending Tamil question.
Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan on Tuesday held consultations to finalise the agenda for the meeting between their foreign ministers on Wednesday during which they will discuss Confidence Building Measures and India's concerns on terror and Jammu and Kashmir.
After protracted re-negotiations, India and Russia have ended the stalemate over contentious price and technical issues for the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier which had become an irritant in bilateral ties.
With India offering to hold foreign secretary level talks, Pakistan's High Commissioner Shahid Malik on Friday met Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao to finalise the dates for the meeting.India has proposed two set of dates in February and is awaiting a response from Pakistan over them, sources said. Reflecting a thaw in bilateral relations, Rao had telephoned her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir about a week ago to invite him to Delhi for talks.Bashir had welcomed the offer.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met her US counterpart William Burns and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, including counter-terrorism and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to America in November.