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The External Affairs Minister, K. Natwar Singh has underlined that India has always followed an independent foreign policy and will continue to do so, guided by our national interest and strategic calculations. He was addressing a joint meeting of the Council of Foreign Relations and the Asia Society in New York on Wednesday. The EAM also noted the enormous growth that India had made economically and the impact this has had on foreign policy. He spoke of our democratic record as a nation of a billion people for which there was no parallel in human history. India today celebrates its diversity, pluralism and secularism.
Bringing out the importance of the strategic relationship that India has established with the United States, as indeed with other major powers. He described Prime Minister’s visit to Washington as a defining moment in our ties with US. He expressed appreciation of the role of the Indian community in the US in bringing the two countries closer. India and the United States share common values and have converging interests that make us natural partners. He said and added that our ties have attained a high degree of maturity and the two countries are currently in a position to engage in a constructive and candid dialogue on major international issues.
In his address Shri Singh also made reference to the reform of the United Nations and the G-4 initiative. Shri Natwar Singh hoped that there would be a more wide spread recognition of the need for expansion of the UN Security Council and an appreciation of the contributions that India could make in this context.
AK/SK/JA
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