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Vajpayee visualises joint India-Singapore progress Singapore, Apr 8 (ANI): Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
struck a note of optimism on economic ties here on Monday when he
said that Singapore as a powerhouse of development and
modernisation could find in India both human and natural
resources and inputs to spur further growth.
India provides Singapore with the space to accommodate its
economic globalisation ambitions, he added while delivering a
speech at the banquet hosted by Goh Chok Tong, the premier of the
city-state.
"India and Singaproe", Vajpayee slated, "can trace their
historical connections through the Chola dynasty, to a shared
Buddhist heritage and into the colonial period. But it is in the
last decade or so that we have moved actively and in concert to
realise the potential for deep and abiding cooperation between
our two countries. We have admired the remarkable Singapore story
as it unfolded from Third World to First in under four decades".
"Singapore is today's largest trading partner in ASEAN. It
attracts the largest number of Indian visitors into South-east
Asia--business travellers and tourists. Our researchers,
academicians and professionals have found their most fruitful
interaction here," he affirmed.
"So we come to Singapore with a mature recognition of the factors
which vitalize India-Singapore relations, and of the potential
energy for their further forward movement. We have today reviewed
the areas of our ongoing cooperation and looked at new
possibilities. Ideas for a bilateral Economic Cooperation
Agreement, for an India-Singapore Biotechnology Park and for
collaboration in space technology offer some new and interesting
guide posts to the future", the Prime Minister observed.
He also stressed that strategic environment, political concerns
and security challenges have been discussed. Recent events have
dramatically demonstrated the reach and penetration of
international terrorist forces, and societies like "ours have to
close ranks against these forces", according to him.
Vajpayee expressed the hope that "we are convinced that India's
destiny, like that of Singapore, is closely interwined with the
future of South-east Asia and of the Asia Pacific. We can both
flourish in a dynamic, mutually beneficial partnership. It is
with this perspective that we look forward to the first ASEAN-
India Summit in November this year".(ANI)
After nuke-rattling, Pak "talks of" talks on "N-free S.Asia" Go to
top Islamabad, Apr 8 (ANI): Barely a day after President Pervez
Musharraf threatened, in an interview with Der Spiegel, a German
magazine, to use nuclear weapons against India as a last resort
in case of a war, the Pakistan government, in an apparent
climbdown from the strident posture, has reportedly reiterated
the offer of talks to New Delhi for declaring South Asia a
"nuclear-free zone".
However, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson here refused to
comment on this supposed offer of negotiations as reported to
News Network International by an official source.
In New Delhi, sources in the External Affairs Ministry said this
was an old proposal which India could not accept. Its programme
is not country-specific while Pakistan's is. Secondly, no such
fresh offer has come from Islamabad.
The NNI was told that Islamabad had broached the subject to New
Delhi several times earlier but didn't get any response. Even
then, it added, the government, keeping in mind the economic
question in the region, where more than a billion people cry for
a higher standard of living, has once again underlined the
urgency of having talks on this issue.
In fact the source went one step further and emphasised that
India has imposed a nuclear arms race in the region by testing
missiles and ballistic missiles as a follow-up to their nuclear
explosions of May 1998.(ANI) Vajpayee condemns attack on journalists in AhmedabadGo to
top Singapore, Apr 8 (ANI): In an impromptu address to the Indian
community here, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, while
regretting the carnage in Gujarat, condemned the attack on
journalists during a peace meeting at Sabarmati Ashram in
Ahmedabad on Sunday.
He said that at a time when the situation in the riot-torn state
was coming under control, this assault on mediapersons is a
matter of great sorrow. A probe into the case has been instituted
and a policeman transferred.
The Prime Minister was at pains to express his anguish at the
happenings in Gujarat. According to him, these have brought us
"all shame". Such things must not be allowed to recur.
Vajpayee referred to his visit to Singapore several years ago and
referred to the great change he has now seen here. He wondered
why India could not emulate such growth and development. Not that
India has not progressed, but the pace needed to be accelerated.
As land of a billion people, blessed with natural resources and
leading the world in knowledge-based industries, India ought to
move ahead at a faster rate, he added.
Vajpayee told the listeners that he and his counterpart had, in
their meetings, agreed to work together in many fields other than
just Information Technology. There were areas where India could
learn a lot from Singapore's experience and expertise.
The Prime Minister assured the businessmen of Singapore that
India was moving ahead with its economic reforms. Yes, democracy
and rule of law have their own constraints, but everything is
placed on a firm basis. He felt there was a great scope for
business cooperation between the two nations. (ANI) "US-led coalition has no plans to enter Pakistan"Go to
top Kabul, Apr 8 (ANI): The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has no
plans to pursue suspected al-Qaeda fighters into neighbouring
Pakistan, despite searches being conducted close to the border,
a coalition spokesman said on Sunday.
"Our focus is on Afghanistan and there are hundreds of people in
Afghanistan we want to find," coalition spokesman Major Bryan
Hilferty said when asked if the troops were to be sent over the
border.
Hilferty was speaking after hundreds of US troops returned to
Bagram after a weeklong search and destroy mission among caves
used by al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Paktia.
The troops recovered weapons and documents during searches of
Paktia's Zhawar Khilli valley, Hilferty said. "Pakistan has been
a very good partner to us, we have a very good relationship with
the Pakistan Army as the rest of the coalition's governments do,"
he said and added "So far they have done everything we have asked
them to do." Hilferty said the operation had been conducted to
"exploit areas where there was evidence that there had been al-
Qaeda terrorists, we were not expecting a lot of contact and we
did not get any."(ANI) 1,200 kg of hashish seized near Pak-Afghan border Go to
top Islamabad, Apr 8 (ANI): Despite the presence of US troops near
the Pak-Afghan border, 12000 kg of hashish was seized near the
Afghan refugee camp in Chaman.
The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) unit in Balochistan said the
seizure was worth millions of dollars in the international drug
markets.
The ANF officials said that they had received information about
smuggling of a huge quantity of hashish from Afghanistan that was
dumped a few kilometres from Roghani refugee camp near Chaman. A
team was despatched to seize the narcotics and foil the smuggling
attempt.
Balochistan is used as a transit route for smuggling of drugs -
including heroin, morphine, hashish and opium - to the
international market, according to officials of the federal anti-
smuggling agencies. The situation is alarming as the federal
anti-smuggling agencies make considerable seizures almost every
day.
The smuggling of narcotics has increased after the fall of the
Taliban regime as reports from Afghanistan suggested that opium
has been cultivated on about 6,000 hectares of land. There are
reports that the European countries are expected to confront a
substantial increase in heroin and hashish trafficking this year
due to widespread replanting of poppy in some areas of
Afghanistan. The poppy harvest was expected to shoot up to 4,600
tons, according to observers.(ANI) |