As a leader, he was ambitious, not for himself but for India and its people. His was not the short-term election cycle calculation of individual political gain. His was a practical vision of how to better the lives of his fellow citizens, asserts Ambassador Shivshankar Menon, who served as foreign secretary and national security advisor when Dr Singh was prime minister.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will leave for Myanmar on Friday on his first bilateral visit since assuming office and will hold talks with the top leadership there including Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The government expects to conclude the agreement during the December 20-21 meet.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Phnom Penh on Sunday and discussed bilateral ties, the raging Ukraine conflict, energy issues, G20 and the situation in the Indo-Pacific, days ahead of a possible meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden.
Instead of the standard VIP motorcade, the Singapore PM hopped onto a chartered bus to reach his hotel in the national capital.
By hosting the 10 ASEAN leaders on Republic Day, India amply demonstrated that ASEAN is a central pillar of its Act East policy. But is India 'central' for ASEAN, asks Dr Rahul Mishra.
A suspected Chinese government sponsored group is understood to have snooped on inaccessible government computer networks in India for over a decade, a cyber security group claimed.
India and ASEAN have relations "free from contests and claims" and believe in sovereign equality of all nations irrespective of size, and support for free and open pathways of commerce and engagement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote in his column.
In a strong message to China, India and ASEAN on Thursday called for a "full and effective" implementation of the understanding between the parties involved in the South China Sea dispute, while stressing on maritime security and freedom of navigation in the critical sea lanes.
'What India needs to do is to re-build those cultural links in a way it didn't.' 'Clearly, India needs to wake up and spend more time on ASEAN.'
Modi will have a number of high-profile multilateral and bilateral meetings with global leaders including United States Vice President Mike Pence and Singapore premier Lee Hsein Loong.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit is an attempt to move the Indo-Singapore relationship to the 'next level'. Singapore has been one of the top investors in India. India-Singapore bilateral trade has already crossed the $15 billion mark. As per the official records, Singapore has emerged as the second largest source of Foreign Direct Investment in India, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
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