(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) India?s new external affairs minister sushma swaraj said on wednesday her aim would be to showcase india?s strengths to the entire world and build good relations with all countries especially its neighbours.
talking to newspersons after formally assuming office swaraj who also holds the overseas indian affairs portfolio said she would like to strengthen india’s ties with its neighbours its strategic partners its extended neighbourhood africa asean latin america europe the central asian countries and other regions.
she said the process of improving relations with india’s neighbours had already begun on day one of the new government with the leaders of all the other seven saarc member-countries and mauritius attending prime minister narendra modi’s swearing-in on monday evening and then holding bilateral meetings with him on tuesday.
swaraj who assisted modi at the delegation-level meetings said the prime minister had underlined the importance for saarc countries to put aside contentious bilateral issues and focus on building a strong identity the grouping across the world. he told them that bilateral issues should be taken up only at bilateral meetings. on the meeting with pakistan prime minister nawaz sharif she said india had made it clear that talks could succeed only when terrorism and violence were stopped. she said modi underlined that “bombs and blasts would drown out any conversations between the two sides”.
to another question she said that india had voiced its concern about the slow pace of the cases related to the november 26 2008 terror attacks in mumbai and pakistan said it was working on this issue.
— news?khaleejtimes.com
for more news from khaleej times follow us on facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes and on twitter at ?khaleejtimes
follow ?khaleejtimes -->
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.