By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : Countries in the Eurasia region occupy a unique place in India’s foreign policy for reasons of history, geography and culture, and India considers the region part of its neighbourhood, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said here Saturday.
Addressing a gathering at the 6th annual Eurasia Conference at Judge Business School, Cambridge, Sharma said that India had been cementing its ties with all the Eurasian countries in the post-cold war era. Sharma is on a four-day visit to Britain.
In a speech titled “India in the 21st century and its engagement in the Caspian and wider Central Eurasian region”, Sharma said India’s ties with the region were based on strong historical and civilizational linkages that went back more than 2,500 years.
“Archaeological findings and historical records reveal the similarities in languages and culture between India and Eurasia. Active cultural and academic exchanges throughout history form an important part of our productive relationship.
“These civilizational linkages are manifested in modern-day societies in India and Eurasia in various forms, for example, in cuisine, dress, arts, music and literature. This rich common heritage binds the two regions together and generates warmth, goodwill amongst the people of the two regions.
“India has had longstanding friendly and cordial relations with Russia. Diplomatic relations between India and the then USSR were established in April 1947, a few months before India’s independence.
“Despite the geopolitical upheavals at the international level in the 1990s, our relationship remained strong and has developed since then into a strategic partnership. India and Russia share common views on various international issues and we both agree that there is a need for greater international cooperation to combat terrorism.”
Providing an overview of India’s relations with Eurasian countries, Sharma singled out the relations with Ukraine which, he said, had played a key role in building industrial infrastructure in sectors such as mining, heavy engineering and steel during the Soviet era.
“In the post-Soviet era, the bilateral trade (with Ukraine) has grown steadily over years and touched $1.2 billion in 2006. It is in fact India’s second largest trading partner among CIS countries. There is a potential for increased trade and investment in areas such as engineering, shipbuilding, light industry, mining, metallurgy, steel, coking industry and infrastructure.
“I would like to reiterate that the Eurasian region is of vital importance to India. India’s interests in the region go well beyond commercial and economic considerations. We value our friendship based on the foundation of ancient ties and would like to take our relations to a higher level, in a constructive and mutually beneficial manner,” Sharma said.