Completing three years in power on Tuesday, the government portrayed a rosy picture on the foreign relations front, highlighting the Indo-US civil nuclear deal and progress in talks with Pakistan but noted that cross-border terrorism and infiltration remained a concern.
The Manmohan Singh-led government said the past three years had been eventful for India's emerging role and status in the comity of nations and cited the growing engagement with the world, especially the US, China, Europe and East Asia.
Referring to its immediate neighbourhood in its 'report card', the government said it had been able to engage Pakistan in a 'meaningful and constructive dialogue that has the potential to bring peace and prosperity to our region as a whole'.
The government, it said, has pursued a policy of 'constructive engagement to establish peaceful, friendly and cooperative relations' with Pakistan.
The composite dialogue made 'some progress' over the past year with the signing of an agreement on Reducing the Risks from Accidents relating to nuclear weapons and a revised Shipping Protocol, it said.
Some other initiatives like enhancing people-to-people contacts and establishing cross-LoC confidence-building measures were also pointed out in the report.
It, however, said the dialogue process is predicated on January 6, 2004 commitment of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf not to allow any territory under Pakistani control to be used to support terrorism against India.
"The government remains concerned over infiltration and cross-border terrorism," the report said.
On relations with the US, the government said the transformation in the ties was being consolidated through broadening of bilateral agenda and in this context referred to the civil nuclear deal.
The civil nuclear agreement and the ongoing negotiations with the Nuclear Suppliers Group will 'mark a turning point in our developmental history' and boost the country's development prospects, it said.
Referring to the visit of US President George W Bush last year, the government said it underscored 'our common commitment' to carry forward the partnership that now includes strategic and security issues, defence, counter-terrorism, trade and maritime cooperation.
Engagement with China also witnessed sustained and comprehensive development during the last three years, the report said and cited the visit of President Hu Jintao last November, which strengthened this process as the two countries agreed on a 10-point strategy to boost ties.
The process of confidence building in border areas has been strengthened, it said, adding signing of Agreement on Investment Protection and Promotion during the year will facilitate two-way investment flows.
With regard to the SAARC process, the government said a 'meaningful milestone' was achieved with South Asia Free Trade Agreement coming into force from January last year.
