Strong US ties goal of UPA govt, says Pranab

New York, Sep 27: Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee here said one of the objectives of the present UPA government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to ensure close ties with the US.

Mr Mukherjee said this while delivering a lecture titled "India's Security Perspective" organised yesterday at Harvard University and a transcript of his speech was made available today by the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations here.

"Building strong and cooperative relations with the United States is one of the fundamental goals of India's current foreign and security policy," Mr Mukherjee, who is leading the country's delegation to the ongoing UN General Assembly session, observed. "The growing warmth between the two countries is based on shared values and common concerns." The minister added that New Delhi believes that the newly emerging ties with the United States in the areas of trade, investment, technology, defence, energy and counter-terrorism will have a major impact not only on the bilateral front but also from the global perspective.

He said, "Clearly, India-US relations are set to emerge as one of the fundamental interstate ties of the 21st century." Mr Mukherjee referred to the civilian nuclear energy agreement in this context, but stated that India has always sought a nuclear-weapons free world. He stated New Delhi has now become a partner - not a target - in nonproliferation efforts made by the international community.

In this connection, the minister appreciated Harvard for promoting studies on India and thus contributing to better understanding between the two countries.

He made a contrast between Mahatma Gandhi's centenary of the launching of Satyagraha and the September 11, 2001, attacks.

"The coincidence of the commemoration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States earlier this month with the 100th anniversary of the launching of Gandhi's nonviolent civil disobedience movement in South Africa on September 11, 1906, represented a juxtaposition of diametrically opposing ideologies,' Mr Mukherjee noted.

Stating that India stood on its own for a long time since its independence, he observed, "Self-reliance gave us self-confidence.

This provided the base for the accelerated growth and increasing globalization of the Indian economy since the early 90s when sweeping reforms were adopted by the Congress party government." Dubbing Pakistan as a nursery of global terrorism, Mr Mukherjee said Islamabad might have helped the United States fight terror along the Pak-Afghan border but stressed it did nothing on the India border.

"It has done precious little to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its eastern border," he said. "If Pakistan claims to be a frontline state in the global war against terrorism, then it must do much more to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism still intact on its land."

UNI

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