Natwar Singh, who was here to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the G4 countries, hoped the peace process with Pakistan would continue unimpeded "unless there is a terrorist attack like the one witnessed in London."
During her talks with Putin in his hometown St. Petersburg, Sonia was accompanied by External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and Indian Ambassador to Russia Kanwal Sibal.
During his four-day visit, Downer addressed the Confederation of Indian Industry and said Australian exporters could help Indian business.\n
The two will discuss recent developments in bilateral relations and matters of mutual interest on regional and international issues.
The telephonic conversation touched on all issues of bilateral interest and was conducted in a "spirit of friendship, cordiality and bonhomie," Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters in New Delhi.
In a bid to boost their bilateral ties, India and South Korea on Wednesday decided to step up efforts to take their economic partnership to a higher level by utilising synergies in trade, investment and hi-tech areas.
The Congress president has already got an invitation to visit Pakistan.
During the meeting, the external affairs minister highlighted the foreign policy aspects in the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance government.
Shivraj Patil will be the home minister, while Natwar Singh will be the next external affairs minister.
The two countries said their goal is to promote synergies in all aspects of space collaboration, including satellite fabrication and launch.
The senator is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday.
He will visit Kabul on February 15 before flying the same day to Islamabad for talks with Pakistani leaders.
Singh spoke to Rice over telephone on Thursday and congratulated her on her confirmation as US Secretary of State, an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said.
Energy-hungry India, which is 70 per cent import dependant to meet its crude oil requirement, is mounting diplomatic initiatives to secure oil and gas from Gulf, Russia and Africa, Foreign Minister K Natwar Singh said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
This is the first time Gandhi has made her position on Singh clear.
After the formalities of the annual summit, the Russian Prime Minister will spend a day in Bangalore.
Meetings of SAARC foreign ministers and foreign secretaries will precede the summit.
"If Pakistan thinks that only the Hurriyat represents the people of Kashmir, then there is something fundamentally wrong with their understanding of realities in J&K."
Former Federal Reserve chairman Volcker's report alleged that 1.8 billion dollars in bribes and illegal surcharges were paid to the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Volcker panel, which investigated the oil-for-food scam, mentioned in a report that Natwar Singh was a beneficiary of Iraq's oil-for-food programme.
"I am not going to speak through the media. I will make a suo motu statement when Parliament meets (later this month)," he said.
"The report has as much validity as the report by the CIA director about the alleged existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq," he said referring to the report by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve.
New Delhi hopes Musharraf will stand by his commitment not to allow Pakistani territory to be used for terrorist acts against India.
She has also renewed her visa request with the Pakistan High Commission, which had earlier rejected her application.
The government on Friday approved a slew of measures to push the peace process including further liberalisation of the consular and visa services.
The external affairs minister said talks on the Kashmir issue cannot move forward till cross-border terrorism stopped.
The external affairs minister blamed Vajpayee for the Kargil crisis.
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