India committed to good ties with neighbours: Govt

India is committed to "close and good" relations with its immediate neighbours, the government said while highlighting its efforts to normalise ties with Pakistan. In 'The Report to the People 2009-10', it said the government's expectation that Pakistan acts with purpose against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack was conveyed on several occasions, including at the highest level.

"India reiterated the need for Pakistan to fulfil the assurances given by its leaders not to allow the use of territory under Pakistan's control for terrorism directed against India," it said. The foreign ministers and foreign secretaries have been charged with the responsibility of working out the modalities of restoring trust and confidence in India-Pakistan relations and thus paving the way for a substantive dialogue on all issues of mutual concern, the government said. "India's foreign policy aims at a global order in which India's overriding goals of rapid, sustained and inclusive socio-economic development and poverty alleviation are attained rapidly without any hindrance," it said.

To this end, India's foreign policy has combined firm commitment to the core national values with dynamic adaptation to changes in the international environment, it said while talking about objectives and achievements of UPA-II. Under the category of 'building bridges', the report said, "As a corollary to these objectives, India is committed to close and good neighbourly relations with all countries in its immediate and extended neighbourhood." Commenting on country's stand at various global bodies, it said India continued to press for reform of the United Nations, in particular, through expansion of its Security Council to make it more democratic and representative. India continued to play a lead role in the Non-Aligned Movement to maintain the movement's relevance and strengthen its voice on international issues, it said.

The report also gave details of India's stand on crucial international issue of climate change, saying it has remained actively engaged in the multilateral negotiations to build a rule-based, transparent and equitable climate change regime that safeguards the interests of the developing countries and supports their endeavour for poverty alleviation and sustainable economic development. Referring to many initiatives such as setting up of the SAARC Development Fund, establishment of the SAARC Food Bank, implementation of regional projects in telemedicine, tele-education and agriculture and conclusion of the SAARC Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, it said India's commitment to its immediate neighbourhood hasrevitalised SAARC.

"In foreign policy our core objectives is to secure for India an external environment that is conducive to our long-term economic development and

to peace and stability in our region," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said whilepresenting the report. The report also dwelt on India's relations and assistance provided to neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Referring to India's development partnership with Afghanistan, which has earned tremendous goodwill of Afghans cutting across ethnic and regional lines, it said "Despite attacks by extremist forces, India's commitment to assisting the people and Government of Afghanistan as they build a democratic, pluralistic and peaceful country remains undiluted."

While in Sri Lanka, India has been assisting in the rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons in its northern part, in Nepal, India was investing over Rs 1600 crore to construct roads in Terai area, establish two integrated check posts and build two cross-border railway links for better connectivity. India has provided a Line of Credit of 1 billion dollars to Bangladesh to support infrastructure projects, including in the areas of railway infrastructure, supply of locomotives, coaches, buses and dredging, the report said. It also highlighted India's relations with other countries including the US, the EU, Russia, Japan and China.

In pursuance of 'Look East' policy, India continued to improve and consolidate its political, economic and cultural interaction with countries in the South East Asia and the Pacific, both in the bilateral and the multilateral context,it said. Progress was made towards implementation of the India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement and several cooperation pacts in diverse areas such as energy, climate change, agriculture, education, women's empowerment have deepened the relationship,the report said. The strategic partnership with Russia was further strengthened with the conclusion of several agreements to intensify cooperation in the defence, space, energy andscience sectors. A forward-looking framework agreement on nuclear energy cooperation, envisaging joint collaboration in S&T, setting up of nuclear power plants and indigenisation of reactor component manufacturing in India, was also concludedwith Russia.

India's relations with all countries in the West Asia and North Africa region were strengthened further in several areas including through movement of professionals, energy, trade and investment, the report observed. On India-EU ties, the report said, with a population of around 500 million and a GDP in excess of 18 trillion USD, EU is an important source of advanced technologies andinvestment. "This is reflected in India's steadily increasing and diversified engagement with the EU covering trade and investment, S&T, education, energy, security, etc. There is also very good cooperation at the bilateral level with individual member states of the EU," it said.