Press Briefings

Briefing by FS and Secretary (West) on President’s forthcoming State Visit to UK and Cyprus

23/10/2009

Director (XP) (Shri Gopal Baglay): Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. We have today the Foreign Secretary Shrimati Nirupama Rao with us to brief you on the President’s forthcoming State visit to the United Kingdom. We also have Secretary (West) Shri Vivek Katju who will make a statement on the President’s forthcoming State visit to Cyprus, after the Foreign Secretary’s statement. Thereafter, we will take questions.

My request to you is that please switch off your mobiles or put them in silent mode. When you ask questions please do two things. Do introduce yourself and wait for the microphone to reach you.

May I now invite the Foreign Secretary to make a statement on the President’s visit to the UK?

Foreign Secretary (Shrimati Nirupama Rao): Good afternoon. The purpose of our meeting today is to brief you on the forthcoming state visits of the President of India to the United Kingdom and to Cyprus. The President’s state visit to the UK is from the 27th to the 29th October 2009.

This will be the third state visit by an Indian President to the UK. The previous two visits took place in 1963 and in 1990 when President’s S. Radhakrishnan and R. Venkataraman had visited the UK. This will also be the first state visit after the commencement of the strategic partnership between India and the UK in 2004. We are looking forward to this visit which is taking place after a gap of almost twenty years, and which will enable interactions between the United Kingdom and India at the highest level.

During the state visit the hon. President will have wide-ranging interactions. Apart from her interactions with Her Majesty the Queen who will be hosting a banquet in honour of the President and other members of the royal family, the President will also be meeting the UK Prime Minister Mr. Gordon Brown; the Leader of the Opposition Hon. David Cameron; and the Leader of the Liberal Democrats the Rt. Hon. Nick Clegg. She will also address a business meeting organised by the UK-India Business Council in which the business delegation accompanying her will participate. The Lord Mayor of the City of London will host a banquet in her honour at the Guild Hall. In addition, the President will also interact with British Members of Parliament in a meeting organised at the Westminster by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on India.

Needless to say the President will also have an interaction with the Members of the Indian Community soon after her arrival in London on the 26th October. The President will also participate in a ceremony at the Buckingham Palace where the Queen’s Baton Relay launch for the Fourteenth Commonwealth Games being held in India in 2010 will take place.

We attach importance to the visit by our President to a country with which we have long historical ties which have become increasingly substantive in the recent past. Apart from the growing trade and economic relations, India and the UK cooperate well in a number of areas including education, research, science and technology among others.

We also have a regular exchange of views on important regional and global issues and we cooperate well in international fora. Our two-way bilateral trade stands at 12 billion pound sterling. The UK also happens to be the fourth largest investor in India. In turn, India is the second largest overseas investor in the UK in terms of the number of projects. Since 2004 our investments in the UK have exceeded the British investments into India.

The year 2007-2008 saw India retain its position as one of the world’s fastest growing sources of investment into the UK, especially in IT and the life sciences. We are also the second largest creator of jobs in the UK. All this has signalled well for the bilateral relationship. We also have a large diaspora in the UK which is doing extremely well and making a substantive contribution to UK society.

We are confident that the President’s visit will help in furthering our bilateral ties with the United Kingdom. The visit also signals our commitment at the highest level to our strategic partnership with the UK. Thank you.

I will now invite my colleague Secretary (West) to brief you on the President’s visit to Cyprus.

Secretary (West) (Shri Vivek Katju): Thank you, Nirupama.

The President will be visiting Cyprus from October 29th to October 31st. The visit is in response to an invitation that she has received from the President of Cyprus. This will be a state visit. During the visit the President will have bilateral talks with her Cypriot counterpart His Excellency Mr. Dimitris Christofias. She will also be meeting the President, or the Speaker, of the House of Representatives of Cyprus Mr. Marios Karoyian. She will meet the Archbishop of Cyprus Archbishop Chrysostomos II.

In addition, the President will visit the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce for an event in which the Cyprus-India Business Association and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry are participating. From India FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM are taking a business delegation to Cyprus. The President will also meet, as is customary, with members of the Indian community in Cyprus. The Indian community now is about 4000 strong and consists of professionals, students and others.

India and Cyprus have enjoyed a very strong relationship right from the time of Cyprus’ Independence in 1960. India has consistently stood for the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of Cyprus. In turn Cyprus has shown a sensitivity and support for India’s positions in various areas. The President’s visit will continue this long tradition of interaction at the highest levels between the two countries. Thank you.

Director (XP): Thank you, Sir. Before we take questions, my apologies for not introducing the other two members of the panel here today. Joint Secretary Shri R.N. Prasad who looks after the West Europe Division is to my right. To the right of Secretary (West) is Joint Secretary Shri T.P. Seetharam who looks after Central Europe. Now we will take questions.

Question: We were told that there is going to be this handing over of Gandhi’s letters to the President. I did not hear that mentioned.

Foreign Secretary: Yes, we are planning to have a ceremony where there will be a handing over of some letters of Gandhiji and also I think some memorabilia. There is a piece of khadi cloth which has been acquired through auction in the UK. This will be handed over by two prominent members of the Indian community to Rashtrapatiji.

Question: Who are these prominent members of the Indian community who would be involved in this ceremony?

Foreign Secretary: Mr. Nat Puri, and Mr. Ghulam Noon, who is a well-known businessman, the Curry King.

Question: Is this piece of khadi something that Mahatma Gandhi used himself?

Foreign Secretary: Yes, that is right.

Director (XP): If there are no more questions on the UK visit, we will move on to the Cyprus visit.

Question: Is the President going to be meeting anybody from the Turkish side of Cyprus?

Secretary (West): The Turkish entity is not recognised by India. Indeed it is not recognised by the international community except for Turkey. So, there is simply no question of the President meeting anyone from that entity.

Question: There has been a suggestion that the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal may be called off in the light of ongoing war of words between various media entities in India and China. Is that at all likely to happen or is he going ahead with his visit?

Foreign Secretary: I am not aware of such a suggestion firstly. Secondly, I have said this before and the Government has said this before that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a respected religious and spiritual figure. We regard him as such. The Tibetan community in India is not expected to undertake any political activity. That is our consistent position. We have also said the Dalai Lama is free to travel anywhere in India.

Question: Madam, this relates to the situation across the border. Today there was an attack by terrorists on Kamra which is an Air Force base which has nuclear components in it. Is the Government of India concerned, because this concern has been expressed in the past, about nuclear weapons of the Pakistani side falling into the hands of terrorists?

Foreign Secretary: We have seen the reports of what happened today at Kamra. What I want to say on the issue is that we hope that the Pakistan Government will continue to take steps to effectively secure their nuclear assets.

Question: Madam, ten months after the Mumbai attacks, could you give us an idea as to diplomatically what Pakistanis have told us, where the investigation is leading to? Have we heard anything from them after we handed over the last dossier which is quite some time ago?

Foreign Secretary: I will draw reference to the meetings that we had in New York last month with the Pakistani side. I met my counterpart the Pakistan Foreign Secretary, and our External Affairs Minister met the Pakistan Foreign Minister. During these meetings of course we emphasised our concerns about the very very slow and tardy pace of action being taken against the conspirators and others responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks last year. That is a concern that we have expressed with all seriousness and emphasis to the Pakistan side. We have also drawn attention and also expressed our concern about the very very slow pace of not only the action that is supposed to be taken but the whole business of the trial that they are supposed to conduct against the accused.

Question: Mrs. Rao, we listened to you in Kabul where the attack had taken place and you had declared that there will be a kind of Government of India inquiry. What is the progress of that inquiry which you declared there? You remember that the Pakistani Prime Minister also had told our Prime Minister in Colombo in the SAARC meeting that he would come back to him so far as the earlier attack was concerned. Has there been any kind of progress on that earlier attack? And what is the progress on this particular attack?

Foreign Secretary: I would again draw reference to the context that I had explained in my earlier answer, the lack of progress from the Pakistan side when it comes to investigation of all the long series of terrorist attacks that have been directed against us from their soil. That is as far as the Pakistan side is concerned. As far as the bomb attack on our Embassy in Kabul is concerned, yes I was in Kabul soon after this happened, and I was able to survey and see at first hand the extent of the damage that had been caused around the perimeter of our Embassy and indeed to parts of the building also. In my discussions with the Afghan leadership during that visit, they not only expressed their sympathy and concern to us over what had happened but also drew attention to the fact that this pointed to the involvement of forces that in all likelihood operated from across the borders. They are conducting an enquiry into what happened, and we are awaiting the full results of that enquiry. It would not be in the interest of the enquiry for me to talk further about it at this moment.

Question: Is the meeting between Indian and Chinese Prime Ministers taking place tomorrow? What are the issues to be discussed during the meeting?

Foreign Secretary: The bilateral relationship that we have with China will obviously be in focus during the forthcoming meeting between our Prime Minister and Premier Wen Jiabao of China in Thailand tomorrow. This is a relationship that has developed in many many areas in recent years. It is also a relationship that is a complex one. You are aware of the outstanding issues that remain to be resolved between India and China. And obviously in meetings of this nature, especially meetings between the leadership at the highest level, there is an opportunity to address all these issues. Apart from that of course India and China are partners in the international context when it comes to many many multilateral issues of concern to the developing world, and these issues also form a part of discussions when such meetings take place.

Question: One question unrelated to the visits. Has the Dalai Lama applied for inner line permit?

Foreign Secretary: I am not aware of that.

Question: Does he need one?

Foreign Secretary: I do not believe he needs one. That is a technicality and this is best addressed to the Home Ministry. As you know, Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.

Question: Has the Dalai Lama informed the Government of India about his proposed visit to Arunachal Pradesh?

Foreign Secretary: We are aware of the fact that the Dalai Lama had expressed an intention to visit Arunachal Pradesh but I have no further details at the moment.

Director (XP): Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for your presence here today.