India makes list, plans outreach to 68 countries

Taking the Modi government’s commitment to reach out to all countries worldwide, the Ministry of External Affairs has issued letters to various Ministers “assigning” them dozens of specific countries to engage with, The Hindu has learnt.

In a letter, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, “By 2016-end, we will not leave any country where Indian Ministers have not gone.”

She said the Ministry had identified 68 countries which had not witnessed Ministerial-level visits from India.

Among the first that will see visits by Ministers will be East European countries, a government official said.

Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will be visiting Estonia and Latvia, while Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be going to Hungary and Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu to Bosnia. Mr. Prasad will land in Estonia on Sunday.

Conversations begin with visits, says MEA

Confirming Mr. Prasad's visit, Viljar Lubi, former Estonian Ambassador to India, told The Hindu, “We have never hosted Indian Ministers before…President, PM or MEA. Mr. Prasad’s visit is very important as IT has been a field of cooperation. Minister Prasad and PM Modi have been kind enough to praise Estonian e-governance and cyber security capabilities. This visit will definitely take this cooperation even closer.”

In the letters, the Ministry of External Affairs has issued to various Ministers “assigning” them dozens of specific countries to engage with, Ms. Sushma Swaraj states that all the meetings will be arranged for by the ambassadors of the respective countries. In case a Minister has some “personal work” or is interested in visiting certain places in those countries, the same will be included in their schedule.

Preparations underway

The preparations to complete the visits before the given deadline of December 2016 are under way. The specific countries assigned to various Ministers, a government official said, “are based on how the visits can enhance our diplomatic relations and strengthen cooperation in the field that the Minister is in charge of.”

Replying to a query from The Hindu, an MEA spokesperson said, “This is part of the Government’s aim of ensuring ‘sampark’ and ‘samvad’, contact and dialogue with all countries of the world. The idea is to reach those countries where not even a Ministerial visit has taken place for the last two years. After all, conversations start happening once a visit takes place and those conversations then lead to cooperation.”

Last year, the government had engaged with 101 countries, and by June, this year, this number had increased to as much as 140.

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Abu Dhabi Prince arrives, n-deal not on agenda

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates’ armed forces, received a warm welcome when he arrived here on Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally received him at the airport with a warm embrace. Though the official part of the visit is scheduled for Thursday, both sides held a round of discussions immediately after his arrival.

The Crown Prince held talks with the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in his first meeting in Delhi to revise the plan of diplomatic engagements for Thursday. Sultan Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy, UAE, who is part of the delegation, called on his counterpart Arun Jaitley. A press release from the Government said that Mr. Jaitley and Mr. Mansoori focused on investment, innovation and Small and Medium Enterprises.

On Monday, UAE Ambassador Ahmed Al-Banna told the media that at least sixteen agreements, including one on nuclear collaboration, were expected to be signed during the visit of the Crown Prince. However, officials told The Hindu that only “initial conversations” on the nuclear issue were on the cards. “Nuclear issues will be agreed as an area of cooperation. There is no bilateral civil nuclear cooperation treaty under negotiation yet with the UAE.” “The only agreement that we can confirm right now is the one for visa free travel for Indian diplomats to the UAE,” said a diplomatic source. Many of the agreements, he said, were still being finalised.

Sovereign Fund
This is Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed’s third visit to India, but his first as crown prince. “We brought him for an official visit when he was Commander of the forces in 2003,” said former Ambassador to the UAE K.C. Singh. “India has wasted a lot of time engaging with the UAE leadership since then, as we were not ready for closer cooperation at the time,” he said.

The main bilateral meeting d at Hyderabad House on Thursday is expected to throw up a clutch of agreements. Earlier, Anil Wadhwa, Secretary (East), said India was eyeing the $ 800 billion Sovereign Fund of the UAE, which it hoped to access especially for investments in infrastructure sector.

Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed will also discuss the newly announced Strategic Partnership, where UAE’s cooperation on terror is a major highlight. In the past few months, many Indians suspected of IS links have been detained and deported to India.

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Sushma Swaraj leaves for two-day visit to Sri Lanka

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday left for Colombo on a two-day visit during which she is expected to discuss the fishermen’s issue and rights of minority Tamils with the top Sri Lankan leadership.

Ms. Swaraj and her Sri Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera will co-chair the 9th Joint Commission meeting to discuss key bilateral and regional issues in Colombo later today.

The discussions will cover the entire gamut of relationship pertaining to economic cooperation, trade, power and energy, technical and maritime cooperation, social, cultural and educational matters, science and technology, defence cooperation, health, civil aviation, tourism and people-to-people contact.

The joint commission was set up in 1992 as a mechanism to address issues of bilateral cooperation. The last meeting of the Joint Commission was held in New Delhi in January 2013.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup had said yesterday that the fishermen issue is expected to figure during Swaraj’s meeting with the Lankan leaders.

The fishermen issue continues to be a major irritant in the India-Sri Lanka ties.

Though the fishermen’s associations of the two sides are in regular touch with each other, they have not been able to reach a mutually-acceptable solution to end this problem, Mr. Swarup had said, adding that India wants a long-term solution.

Sri Lanka accuses Indian fishermen of straying into its territorial waters, while the latter maintain they are only fishing in their traditional areas, especially around Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Colombo in 1974.

The issue of rights of minority Tamil community is also expected to come up for discussions during Ms. Swaraj’s meetings.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had last month said his government was ready to devolve power to minority Tamils under a new Constitution, aimed at resolving the ethnic conflict and achieving reconciliation with Tamils.

Ms. Swaraj will also call on President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and former president Chandrika Kumaratunga besides meeting other top leaders.

She will inaugurate a ‘Rise of Digital India’ exhibition on Saturday as part of ‘Sangam’ festival of India in Sri Lanka 2015-2016.

The exhibition will showcase the phenomenal rise of the computing sector and digital technologies in India, which is positively impacting the everyday lives of people.

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We will soon complete Pathankot probe: Sharif

“Pakistan will soon complete its investigation into the Pathankot terror attack which had a negative impact on talks with India,” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Saturday.

Talks with India were “going in the right direction” after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, he said but regretted that the attack disturbed the negotiation process.

Mr. Sharif vowed that Pakistan would go to any length to uncover the alleged use of its soil in the January 2 attack on the air base in Pathankot by suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists.

It is our responsibility

“It is our responsibility to uncover if our soil was used in the attack. We will do this and the ongoing investigations will soon be completed,” Mr. Sharif told reporters here.

The terrorists were being defeated and in desperation, they were carrying out isolated acts to make their presence felt, he said, adding that the remaining ones would also be eliminated.

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Passport first, verification later for first-timers

Liberalising the passport system, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday announced the government’s decision to do away with police verification for the issuance process, for first-time normal category passport applicants.

The applicants can acquire passport faster with other government-issued identity papers. The new system prioritises issuance of normal passports, leaving police verification for a later date. “If you submit application with copies of Aadhaar, Voter ID and PAN Card, with an affidavit of no criminal case, we will issue passport,” Ms. Swaraj tweeted.

An official release said: “... normal passport applications of all first-time applicants furnishing Aadhaar, Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), Permanent Account Number (PAN) Card and an affidavit in the format of Annexure-I will be processed on Post-Police Verification basis… subject to successful online validation of Aadhaar number.”

Annexure-1 of the passport application form lays out the format of the affidavit declaring “no criminal record” of the applicant.

The police verification process, which can take place after the applicant has acquired the new passport, has been streamlined with the launch of “mPassport Police App” for speedy submission of Police Verification (PV) report.

“The app would facilitate the field level verification officers to directly capture the PV report into the system digitally. With launch of this app, the need to download and print the physical Personal Particulars Form and questionnaire would no longer be required, resulting in paperless end-to-end digital flow of the PV process,” the press release said. The new app will reduce the police verification process to 21 days.

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7 years after Mumbai attacks, India, Pakistan resume dialogue

Seven years after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, India and Pakistan have agreed to resume structured dialogue between them. Announcing the breakthrough development, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said at a joint press conference in Islamabad, “We have decided to restart the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue. The dialogue that was earlier known as Composite Dialogue and later on known as Resumed Dialogue will now be known as the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue.”

Ms. Swaraj added that the decision had come as a result of the talks on terror by the National Security Advisors in Bangkok on Sunday. In their joint statement, Ms. Swaraj and Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz “condemned terrorism and resolved to cooperate to eliminate it”. The joint statement also notes that Pakistan had given assurances on an “early completion of the Mumbai trial”.

Earlier Ms. Swaraj and the Indian delegation comprising Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and India’s envoys to Pakistan and Afghanistan called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at his office in Islamabad. The meeting, that had been scheduled only as a “courtesy call” as Ms. Swaraj was there to attend the Heart of Asia conference, ended up lasting well past an hour. “The atmosphere was very warm and friendly right from the start,” a senior official present in the room told The Hindu, adding that Ms. Swaraj referred to the fact that Mr. Sharif had maintained his commitment to dialogue between India and Pakistan ever since he had been elected Prime Minister.

“She said repeatedly that PM Sharif’s sincerity was beyond doubt and appreciated his willingness to accept shortcomings and move ahead with the process.” In response, Mr. Sharif reportedly said that he was indeed committed to peace with India and that “no issue was off the table as far as he was concerned”.

Despite the bonhomie in Islamabad, Ms. Swaraj is likely to face a barrage of questions when she returns to Delhi and briefs parliament on Thursday, as the commitments by Pakistan on the Mumbai trial seem to be the same as in the past and gave no specific commitments on the prosecution of the masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Both in opposition and in government the BJP has opposed any resumption of dialogue without “concrete action” by the Nawaz Sharif government on the Mumbai attacks where 160 people were killed in coordinated strikes by LeT gunmen from Pakistan. “We are happy for any development that promotes peace, but the government must explain what has changed for this resumption of dialogue now,” said Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan on Wednesday evening.

After talks between Ms. Swaraj and Mr. Aziz which lasted two hours, the two sides tasked Foreign Secretaries of the two countries with formulating a timetable for secretary level talks on all the 10 issues that form the resurrected dialogue process. In moving from the composite dialogue basket of eight issues to the comprehensive dialogue, the governments have decided to flesh out the subject of peaceful exchanges, with humanitarian issues, people to people exchanges and religious tourism now coming under separate headings. While Ms. Swaraj has had the toughest line in government on talks with Pakistan so far, she has also spearheaded the initiatives to repatriate Indians and Pakistanis stranded on the wrong side of the border, including in the high-profile case of “Geeta”, who returned from Karachi in October.

Kashmir on dialogue agenda

In a departure from the Ufa statement issued in July 2015, that had omitted the reference to Jammu and Kashmir, the joint statement has clarified that the dispute remains one of the issues for discussion. Mr. Sharif had faced sharp criticism over the Ufa statement in Pakistan, and the difference over the statement had led to the cancellation of NSA talks in Delhi in August this year. Since then, there had been no bilateral contact between both sides until a surprise pull aside meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr. Sharif on November 30, 2015, followed by talks on terror between the NSAs Ajit Doval and Lt. Gen. Nasir Khan Janjua on December 6, 2015. In another departure from the past, India and Pakistan have decided to allow the NSAs to take over all issues of terrorism between the two sides.

The declaration of Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue was welcomed by former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Salman Bashir who described the declaration by Ms. Swaraj as a “great development”.

“The visit of Sushma Swaraj has been a great success as it revived the structured dialogue process between India and Pakistan. It’s also significant as the resumption of dialogue comes at the time of the 30th anniversary of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC),” Mr. Bashir told The Hindu.

The India-Pakistan Composite Dialogue is rooted in the 1997 SAARC Summit at Male where Prime Ministers I.K. Gujral and Mr. Sharif agreed to create a Composite Dialogue Process (CDP). The CDP survived till 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai led to its suspension.

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PM Modi to visit Pakistan, says Sushma Swaraj

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Pakistan next year, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday.

Modi will participate in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, Sushma Swaraj told the media.

Sushma Swaraj said she would accompany Modi during his visit, Geo TV reported.

Sushma Swaraj is in Islamabad to participate in the Heart of Asia Conference on peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Sushma Swaraj's is the first ministerial visit from India to Pakistan since the visit of then external affairs minister SM Krishna in 2012.

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in Ufa, Russia, in July, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had invited Modi to attend the SAARC summit next year which the latter had accepted.

After the Ufa meeting, both the prime ministers directed their foreign secretaries to initiate the process of renewing talks, including meetings between the national security advisors of the two countries.

However, NSA-level talks between Doval and then Pakistani NSA Sartaz Aziz scheduled in New Delhi in August were cancelled after the Pakistan high commissioner in New Delhi insisted on inviting Hurriyat leaders for a reception in honour of Aziz.

The two prime ministers again had an impromptu meeting on the sidelines of the Conference of Parties (CoP-21) climate summit in Paris on November 30.

Both leaders were seen warmly shaking hands at the summit venue as world leaders converged for the opening of the event.

The two leaders then sat on the same sofa and were seen engaging in an animated discussion.

Following this, on December 6, National Security Advisors (NSAs) Ajit Doval of India and Naseer Khan Janjua of Pakistan held a meeting in Bangkok which was also attended by Foreign Secretaries S. Jaishanker and Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry.

A joint statement issued after the meeting said the two NSAs held discussions "in a candid, cordial and constructive atmosphere".

According to the statemernt, the NSAs "were guided by the vision of the two leaders for a peaceful, stable and prosperous South Asia.

"Discussions covered peace and security, terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, and other issues including tranquility along the LoC (Line of Control).

"It was agreed to carry forward the constrictive engagement," said the statement.

The LoC divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

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Pakistan invites India for key Afghan conference

Pakistan has invited External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for a crucial regional conference here on Afghanistan, a move that could provide an opportunity for the two neighbours to mend their frosty ties.

The ‘Heart of Asia’ conference will be held on December 7 and 8, where representatives from Azerbaijan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the UAE are expected to attend. Pakistan has also sent an invitation to Ms. Swaraj, the Express Tribune reported.

“A formal invitation has been sent to India and 25 other countries for the Heart of Asia ministerial meeting on Afghanistan to be hosted by Pakistan,” a senior Foreign Office official was quoted as saying by the paper.

An Indian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed New Delhi has received the invitation but said the decision on whether the External Affairs Minister will attend the conference has yet to be taken, the paper said.

He said India is likely to send a high-level delegation headed by the minister given the conference’s importance. The meet provides a moment to unfold the process for a dialogue between the two countries after recent hiccups in their ties.

Indo-Pak ties are going through a chill particularly after cancellation of NSA-level talks following differences over the agenda proposed by Islamabad, and a planned meeting between Kashmiri separatists and Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz. India has also accused Pakistan of repeated ceasefire violations and of having a hand in recent terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, who were staying in the same hotel during their stay in New York in September for the UN General Assembly, did not meet on the sidelines of the summit.

Mr. Modi and Sharif had last met in Ufa, Russia, in July on the sidelines of the BRICS and SCO summits.

It is believed that Prime Minister Modi may be ready for talks with Pakistan after Bihar elections, where his party could not repeat the success it had in Kashmir last year, the paper said, citing analysts.

The Afghan conference will discuss the current situation in Afghanistan with particular focus on helping the war-torn country’s economy.

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Modi set to travel 60,000 km in 30 days

From London to Kuala Lumpur and back to Paris and Moscow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a series of foreign visits once the crucial Bihar elections are out of the way.

The External Affairs Ministry is gearing up for a string of high profile bilateral meetings in November and December. If all the visits being discussed fructify, Mr. Modi will clock more than 60,000 km in fewer than 30 days, possibly a record even for the well-travelled Prime Minister, who has already visited 27 countries in his tenure, some of them twice.

Most of the outgoing visits are now being planned. Next week, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar will travelto Moscow to attend the annual India-Russia Inter-governmental Commission meeting on October 20 and 21 to review defence and trade ties.

Diplomatic sources say that besides discussing defense acquisitions by India, including some localized or “made in India” projects, and more civil nuclear, space and science projects, the two sides are expected to announce the dates for Mr. Modi’s visit to Russia.

The Prime Minister is due to visit Russia in “early December,” a source said. He expressed his desire to visit Moscow and Astrakhan, a state that has old trade ties with Gujarat which he visited in 2006.

Straight after the Bihar election results on November 8 and Deepavali on November 11, the Prime Minister is expected to head to the U.K. for a three-day visit. Preparations are under way for an event to be attended by 70,000 NRIs at London’s Wembley Stadium. Diplomatic sources said the Prime Minister would travel to a second city in the U.K., which was being finalised. Leicester, Cambridge and Oxford are among the contenders, unless an invitation to the British Prime Minister’s “official retreat”, Chequers in Buckinghamshire, is finalised.

An official involved in planning the visit said: “PM Modi and PM Cameron are expected to spend a lot of time together during the visit”. From the U.K., Mr. Modi will fly to Turkey to conduct bilateral meetings and to attend the G-20 summit in Antalya on November 15 and 16. As no progress has been made in trade talks with the European Union in the past few weeks, an earlier plan to include Brussels for the EU-India summit during the trip, put off earlier this year, has again been set aside.

Within days of returning from the G-20 summit, the Prime Minister will head east, to attend the ASEAN-India summit in Kuala Lumpur on November 21 and 22. A visit to Singapore, his second this year, is being planned, along with an event for Indian expatriates there. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan was in Delhi this week to discuss arrangements.

Mr. Modi will meet many of the leaders from G-20 and ASEAN-related summits for a third time on November 30, when he flies to Paris for the COP-21 U.N. Climate Change conference, where a major declaration is expected on cutting emissions. Officials say it is not yet clear whether Mr. Modi will complete his summit in Russia on the same trip as to France, but find it “unlikely”. Either way, he will return to Delhi by mid-December, in time for the visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar is in Tokyo for talks to plan the visit of Mr. Shinzo to Delhi. While officials told The Hindu it “was too early” to comment on the possible outcomes, Japanese media has reported that the India-Japan nuclear deal could be announced, and officials have confirmed it is being discussed this week.

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