New Delhi
Giving the much necessary relief to Indian medical students evacuated from war-hit Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has assured his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi that the Indian medical students could "choose to continue their studies in Hungary if they wished".
Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday spoke on phone to his counterparts from Hungary and Romania, Viktor Orban and Mark Rutte respectively.
In the meeting with Hungarian PM, Mr Modi discussed the ongoing situation in Ukraine and both the leaders "agreed on the need to ensure an immediate ceasefire and a return to diplomacy and dialogue".
Mr Modi conveyed his warm thanks to Orban and to the Hungarian government for facilitating the evacuation of more than 6,000 Indian citizens through the Ukraine - Hungary border.
Prime Minister Orban also conveyed his best wishes to the Indian medical students evacuated from Ukraine, and said that they could "choose to continue their studies in Hungary if they wished".
Prime Minister Modi expressed his appreciation for this generous offer.
Both the leaders agreed to remain in touch on the evolving situation and to continue their efforts to encourage an end to the conflict, an MEA release said.
Mr Modi also spoke to Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
The two leaders discussed the ongoing situation in Ukraine and shared their concerns over continuing humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
"Prime Minister Modi reiterated India’s consistent appeal for cessation of hostilities and a return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy. The Prime Minister welcomed the ongoing talks between Russia and Ukraine, and hoped for an early resolution," the MEA statement said.
Mr Modi informed Prime Minister Rutte about the progress in evacuation of Indian citizens from conflict areas, and India’s assistance in form of urgent relief supplies, including medicines for the affected populations.
The Prime Minister recalled his Virtual Summit with Prime Minister Rutte in April,
2021 and expressed his desire to receive Prime Minister Rutte in India at an early date.
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Except Pak, India works closely with all neighbours : Foreign Secy Shringla
Nirendra Dev
New Delhi
India's much talked about 'The Neighbourhood First Policy' at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi accords "highest priority" to relations with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, says Indian
Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla.
However, he said, "It is these countries - with the exception of Pakistan - that we work most closely with".
The Foreign Secretary was speaking at the Inaugural Session of the Training Module on India’s Neighbourhood at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.
"Countries in our neighbourhood are of special significance to us. Our ties with these countries are underpinned by a shared history and culture," he said.
He maintained that the policy initiatives taken by India - and its neighbours – have implications for each other.
"Ties with the neighbouring countries have a direct relevance to our States bordering these countries. India also realizes its prosperity and growth are linked to that of its neighbours. We cannot develop unless our neighbours develop," he asserted.
It was in this spirit, he said that the Cabinet Secretary wrote to all Government Ministries and Departments asking them to accord priority to India’s neighbours in their international activities, programmes and projects.
"Mechanisms have been created to enable greater inter-ministerial coordination and enhanced focus on Neighbourhood First".
India’s foreign and security policies operate at several levels and dimensions, he said adding, "We have separate bilateral relationships with each of our neighbours. We also interact with them on plurilateral constructs. We work with them within multilateral frameworks".
Shringla asserted that New Delhi maintains "excellent political relations" with neighbours.
"You might recall that South Asian leaders were invited when the present government was sworn in for the first time in 2014. Leaders of BIMSTEC countries, that include several of our neighbours on the Bay of Bengal littoral, were invited when the government was sworn in for the second time in 2019".
He further stated that more than a dozen bilateral visits at the level of Heads of State and Government have been exchanged separately with Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka each since 2014.
"The only country that our President, Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister have all visited since the pandemic struck has been Bangladesh," he pointed out.
Shringla, who also served as India's envoy in Dhaka, said the visits by Indian leaders to Bangladesh was aimed "to cement a very special relationship" on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Bangladesh and the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations.
The first foreign visits by the President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka after they assumed office were to India, he said.
"This intensity of political interaction is indicative of good and constructive bilateral relationships. They take place in a context in which many persistent problems have slowly and patiently been dealt with in a mutually acceptable manner," he said.
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| India's 'Operation Ganga' |
Putin playing historic role - Rebooting Russia-Asia ties
New Delhi
Russia as a nation and its foreign policy are in debate these days.
However, one fact of the matter that has evaded discussions so far is whether Russiashould be categorised as European or Asian. This question - of course - remains a subjectmatter with potent strategic implications. In 2022, post-February 24 the Russian invasion of Ukraine,Xi Jinping dispensation in China and the Indian government of Narendra Modi are maintaining somewhat anuanced stance on the war.
Are all these merely in the name of RIC harmony? Perhaps both Xi Jinping and Modi are aware that Vladimir Putin is himself also sensitive to some of the issues from the past.
Traditionally, the task of making maps has been a European monopoly. The map givers hadpartitioned Asia from Europe at the Ural mountains. Needless to add, all these did nothappen all of a sudden or our of some simplistic innocence.
Experts would vouch that the European map makers knew exactly what they were doing. According to scholarPaul Bracken, the Europeans knew "drawing the maps to fit the political climate of their time".
Historically, the major European players including France strongly resisted Russia's goal of western expansion.But in the east, Russia's superior military organisation quickly captured the lands of loose-knit tribals.
In the process, Moscow created two Russias. One was European and modern and dynamic. The other wasAsiatic in character and rural-based, and thus perhaps 'ripe' for the civilizing effects of Russian rule.
Bracken of Yale University says, the Russian-Asian divide actually "even worked its way into Americanatomic war plans". He further says much later in 1991 as the Soviet Union fell apart, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian republicstoo were cut loose. Thus, he says, "Russia lost its empire and with it its place in the world".
No longer Russia was seen as a 'modern' nation as was done during the USSR regime. Russia soon began to belooked down by the west, the Europe and the US and to an extent even the Japanese.
True in an instant once super power USSR disappeared. Putin was traumatized by the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Thus, now that Putin has gone affirmative, he has brought his country into global debate.
Many Russians agree with Putin and feel resentment and humiliation, but it can't be claimed that the common Russians also want war.
At the same time, there is a peculiarity too. After the Soviet collapse, many Russian politicians viewed the divorce with Ukraine as a 'mistake of history'.Moreover, it posed as a threat to Russia’s standing as a great power.
In fact, losing Ukraine and letting it fall into the Western orbit, was seen by Putin and several Russians as a major blow to Russia’s international prestige.
Of course, Putin's success in reviving his 'Russian pride' - if he thinks so - its not all for right reasons.
War can never do any good to humanity or any country as such.
A critical question that crops up at this juncture is what the current Russia-inspired global chaosand European crisis actually mean to Asia.
Putin and two other regional players Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping also would be well aware that for most of history, the military alliances never worked good or mattered much in Asia.
Distances and tough terrains have made it impractical to send military assistance in time to make any difference.
Therefore, there was never a NATO in Asia. The countries in Asia could not overcome the long historical traditionof nation fending for themselves.
But every world wars have changed the world. We are almost in the midst of World War III. The 15-day day conflict betweenRussia and Ukraine is slowly dividing the nations.
Notwithstanding their respective issues, India and China have so far walked the middle path declining to blamea man called Putin for every problem under the sky.
Thus, the strong plea made by Indian Prime Minister Modi to return to dialogue and diplomacy thus make a lotof sense.
The enhanced cooperation from China to India and Russia thus can be a major game-changer.
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