By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves Tuesday to attend the India-Asean summit in Singapore and the later Commonwealth summit in Uganda to meet world leaders and boost bilateral relations with several countries.
Manmohan Singh will spend two hectic days in Singapore, taking part first in the India-Asean summit and then the 16-member East Asian Summit that also groups South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan.
After returning to New Delhi post midnight Wednesday, Manmohan Singh will again take off for Kampala Thursday for the Commonwealth summit where India has fielded its envoy in London, Kamlesh Sharma, for the post of Commonwealth secretary general.
In a statement on the eve of his departure, the prime minister said Monday his participation in the sixth India-Asean Summit and the third East Asian Summit were vital pillars of New Delhi’s Look East policy and “vital for the qualitatively enhanced engagement which India seeks with the region”.
In Singapore, Manmohan Singh will separately meet Prime Ministers Wen Jiabao of China, Yasuo Fukuda of Japan, Abdullah Ahmed Badawi of Malaysia and Thein Sein of Myanmar, whose military crackdown on mass protests has made the West urge Beijing and New Delhi to push it towards democratic reforms.
Manmohan Singh said India’s trade with Asean countries had grown rapidly, “surpassing our expectations. It today stands at $30 billion.
“I will discuss with the Asean leaders new measures to expand the horizons of our cooperation to include not just greater economic integration but also people-to-people contacts, science and technology, health, transport, human resource development, and information and communication technology.”
The prime minister said the East Asia Summit had identified five areas of cooperation – energy, education, finance, avian influenza and national disaster mitigation.
“India has taken and is ready to take many initiatives in these areas… The summit is also expected to discuss regional and international issues, and future directions for cooperation.
“The creation of a cooperative framework in East Asian will have a profound impact on the global economy and international relations,” he said.
“India’s role in the success of this enterprise is crucial.”
In Singapore, Manmohan Singh will attend a reception hosted by his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on the occasional of a special exhibition on Nalanda, the ancient seat of Buddhist learning in Bihar.
In Uganda, India will pitch for the candidature of Kamlesh Sharma, its candidate for the post of Commonwealth secretary general.
“We think his qualifications are excellent,” Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters. “We do hope other members will agree with us that Kamlesh Sharma will be the best perfect secretary general.”
Menon pointed out that no Asian had held the post of Commonwealth secretary general since 1965.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will attend a meeting of foreign ministers that will precede the Commonwealth summit. Like the prime minister, he will also hold bilateral meetings with other foreign ministers on bilateral and international matters.
The Commonwealth ministerial action group will be discussing the future of Pakistan, where President Pervez Musharraf’s emergency rule leading to the jailing of thousands of opposition and rights activists has put him in conflict with the West.
India is the largest member state of the Commonwealth, a community mainly of English speaking countries. Thirty-two of the 53 member countries are small states, with who India attaches great importance in terms of building bilateral ties.