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The following is the text of the Opening Remarks by External Affairs Minister Shri K. Natwar Singh at the Joint Press Conference with British Foreign Secretary Mr. Jack Straw:
"It is a great pleasure to welcome Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to India. Mr. Straw is a friend of India and has visited India several times. This is our fourth meeting since June last year.
Strong bilateral ties are a priority for both our countries, given our shared history, cooperation on issues of core concern, substantial economic and cultural linkages and the large community of Indian origin that have made the UK their home.
The Joint Declaration that our Prime Ministers issued during Dr. Manmohan Singh’s visit to London last September has set out an ambitious agenda covering all the various areas of our Strategic Partnership. Action on virtually all these areas is well underway. A Joint Economic and Trade Committee was launched last month during the visit of Secretary of Trade Patricia Hewitt. An Economic and Financial Dialogue was Launched by our Finance Minister and Chancellor Gordon Brown in London earlier this month. We also held a very successful meeting of the India- UK Round Table, a few weeks back. Foreign Office Consultations are to be held next month.
Bilateral Cooperation in Home Affairs is one of the important areas identified in the Joint Declaration. This morning, India & UK have signed the Agreement on Transfer of Prisoners and also renewed the MoU on return of illegal immigrants. We also appreciate the decision of the British Government to include India in the ‘White list’ of safe countries from where asylum requests are presumed to be normally false. We hope that this measure will shortly get the approval of the British Parliament. We are indeed developing our bilateral relations into a vibrant and dynamic strategic partnership.
We hope to work closely with you during your Presidency of the G-8 and its forthcoming Presidency of the EU. We expect to host the India-EU Summit under the UK Presidency in New Delhi and to welcome the British Prime Minister to our country later this year.
Both India and UK believe in a strong multilateral system and are committed to the effective functioning of the United Nations. We are deeply appreciative of UK extending its support to India’s candidature for the permanent membership of the expanded UNSC. We have discussed all these issues. We also had a good exchange of views on developments in our neighbourhood. I briefed Mr. Straw on my recent visit to Afghanistan and to Pakistan.
On Nepal, we noted that the international community has strongly deplored the recent developments in Nepal, which constitute a serious setback to the cause of democracy in that country and are a cause of grave concern to us all.
We agreed on the urgent need for restoration of normal democratic processes, release of political prisoners and the lifting of censorship on the media. The UK and India would continue to be in close touch with each other concerning further developments in Nepal.
AK/SK/JA
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