Thursday, Oct 10, 2002
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By Amit Baruah
In response to a question, the Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal, told presspersons that India was dealing with the issue at an individual level with different E.U. countries and pointed out that Britain and France had supported India's entry into the Security Council as a permanent member. Mr. Sibal took the view that India's summit with the E.U. was a matter of considerable political and economic significance and pointed to India emerging as a "future pole'' in a multipolar world. He said that the E.U. consisted of two P-5 countries four G-8 countries and the three largest economies in the world after the United States and Japan. The Foreign Secretary said it was not unimportant that the E.U. was willing to lend a certain stature to India, given the fact that such summit-level interactions were conducted by the E.U. with the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and Canada. He said that Kashmir would definitely figure in the summit-level discussions. According to Mr. Sibal, India was going to the Copenhagen summit with a "strengthened hand'' after the successful elections in Kashmir. There will be, he said, a recognition of the importance and fairness of the elections that had been held in Kashmir. The credibility of India's political effort to deal with the Kashmir issue had been strengthened, Mr. Sibal pointed out. Referring to economic issues, Mr. Sibal said though the E.U. was India's largest trading partner and the two-way trade stood at 25 billion Euros there was a need to enhance economic cooperation. The Foreign Secretary pointed to certain difficulties with E.U. positions — in particular its protectionist approach. With 10 new countries joining the E.U. by 2004, India believes that protectionism will be an ongoing issue of discussion with the E.U. Mr. Sibal was quick to point out that this was not a bilateral issue, but this was a challenge that India's economic diplomacy had to meet. The differences on trade-related matters was evident at the Doha Ministerial meeting — specifically the problems developing countries had with the issues of labour standards and environment. The Foreign Secretary said some recent concessions had been extended by the E.U. to Pakistan which put Indian textiles at a disadvantage, but claimed that the issue had now been sorted out. He revealed that India and the E.U. were currently negotiating an agreement on customs cooperation. He maintained that all the institutions put into place by India and the E.U. had been meeting as per schedule. Mr. Sibal said with the European Parliament becoming a more effective instrument, India was keen on enhancing its cooperation with this body and pointed to the recent visit by a socialist delegation. Pointing to the E.U.'s efforts to evolve a common foreign and security policy, Mr. Sibal said the Union was increasingly going to become a powerful voice in world affairs. "What we make of this platform (the Indo-E.U. summit) also depends on us.'' Separately, sources said, the issue of Iraq and imminent American actions would definitely figure in the talks the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, would have with the E.U. leadership tomorrow. Interestingly, the sources said, the Indian and E.U. positions on Iraq were quite similar. Whether the Iraq issue figures directly in the joint statement that will be issued tomorrow remains to be seen. New Delhi is also conscious of the fact that the E.U. leadership will definitely urge a dialogue between India and Pakistan. For its part, India has sent some "messages'' in advance about its position. Also, the recent comments by the Prime Minister about Pakistan and the issue of dialogue would have been noted by the E.U. While India was ready to engage in a dialogue if a "door'' was opened by Pakistan, as of now that seemed to be a remote possibility.
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