Published annually,
the present Volume is the seventh in the series
India's Foreign Relations. As its name implies,
it showcases the documents on India's foreign
relations and is published in cooperation with
the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry
of External Affairs. This Division was created
in 2006 to reach out to think-tanks, academia,
civil society and industry both within the country
and abroad to interact with them on the contours
of Indian foreign policy and to initiate debate
and discussion within the wider public about
the key foreign policy issues.
As in 2007, the
issue of civil nuclear energy cooperation with
the United States, continued to dominate both
the foreign policy discourse as well as domestic
politics of the country. It was not until the
realignment of domestic political forces that
the hump was crossed at home that the government
felt emboldened to talk the issue over with
other international players in the game and
signed agreements with institutions like the
IAEA, NSG and individual countries. The bombing
of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, seaborne terrorist
attack in Mumbai, Pakistan's intransigence in
withholding cooperation and adopting bellicose
posture, threatened to stall the peace process
so arduously put in place in 2004. It is therefore
natural that documents on nuclear energy cooperation
and relations with Pakistan should form the
bulk of the Volume.
Considering the
importance of climate change in international
discourse today, a separate section has been
added for this subject.
The documents have been categorized region-wise,
thematically and arranged chronologically. There
are documents which do not fall in any particular
category, and have references to several subjects/issues;
these figure in the General category, with cross
referencing, wherever possible. To take care
of the bulk, bilateral agreements of only strategic
nature having bearing on foreign relations have,
as a rule, been included here. However, in the
case of neighbours, all agreements have been
included comprehensively, as each one has a
bearing on the overall relationship.
In reproducing the documents
every care has been taken to adhere to the original
in terms of spellings of proper nouns, and punctuations.
The Library of the India International Centre
has provided me a great deal of logistic support
in my work. I am grateful to its Chief Librarian
Ms. Sushma Zutshi and her colleagues.
I wish to acknowledge the
support and help of a large number of officers
of the Ministry of External Affairs in the preparation
of this volume. While not naming every one by
name since the list is quite a long one, I would
particularly like to acknowledge the contributions
of M/s. Amit Dasgupta and Narinder Singh. My
personal thanks to all of them. I owe a debt
of gratitude to TCA Rangachari for sparing a
good deal of his time, to go meticulously through
the Introduction with a fine comb to rhyme the
text. Thank you, Sir. Whatever deficiencies
have occurred in the publication in any manner
and form, I do not share the blame for that
with any one else. They are all mine.
I am dedicating this book to late V. Venkateswara
Rao, who was a Counsellor in the Indian Embassy
in Kabul and became a martyr when the Mission
came under terrorist attack on July 7, 2008.
It was for the first time that an Indian asset
was attacked by terrorists outside the country.
The Officers of the Indian diplomatic service
posted in far flung places, carry out their
arduous duties in difficult areas of the world
in the service of the nation not caring for
their personal security and comfort. They make
themselves vulnerable to all sorts of dangers
but they honour the call of their duty. I salute
the memory of late Venkateswara Rao by this
humble dedication.
Avtar Singh Bhasin
February 10, 2009.
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