Foreign policy, domestic priorities intertwined, says Nirupama Rao

August 28, 2010 12:17 am | Updated November 28, 2021 09:26 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna and Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao at the inaugural session of three-day Conference of Indian Heads of Missions in New Delhi Friday. Photo : Rajeev Bhatt

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna and Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao at the inaugural session of three-day Conference of Indian Heads of Missions in New Delhi Friday. Photo : Rajeev Bhatt

The intersection of the domestic environment for national development and the state of health of our neighbourhood relationships has never been as sharply defined as it is today, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said here on Friday.

“How do we align our foreign policy objectives with the country's fundamental security and development priorities? How do we combine a firm commitment to our core national values with dynamic, flexible adaptation to changes in the international environment? How do we ensure that our periphery remains peaceful and free from tension so that our economy can grow even more rapidly? How do we deal with the threats of transnational terrorism, especially that which emanates in our close neighbourhood? How can the Ministry of External Affairs best adjust [itself] to the exponential increase in demands on its expertise, experience, time and resources?” she asked over 100 Indian ambassadors, in her speech at the third conference of heads of missions.

Ms. Rao said the debate on the nuclear liability Bill, the targets set for electricity generation from nuclear energy, and the steady expansion of dialogue with key partners on cooperation in nuclear energy had shown how foreign policy and domestic priorities were exceptionally intertwined, indicating that the Foreign Office's work was increasingly interconnected with that of other government departments.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram shared his thoughts on India's security environment and challenges with the heads of missions. He also spoke about the multipronged strategy his Ministry adopted to counter the challenges.

Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon addressed the envoys and responded to a number of questions.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.