New Delhi: Even as government came under
attack from almost the entire opposition over end-user
monitoring pact with the US, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar
Menon on Tuesday said it was a "biggest victory" as it provides a
choice to decide the time and place of verification of the
defence equipment purchased from America.
"This (End-User Monitoring Agreement) is the biggest
victory for us. That`s what successive governments of India
have been trying to work through with the US. There is no
change in our policy," Menon told Parliamentarians while
delivering a lecture on foreign policy challenges here.
Noting that end-user agreements had been signed for
contracts with the US since 1997 by successive governments, he
said EUMA was an advancement of the process that had started
years ago.
"The choice (of time and place of verification) is
ours. It is we who are buying, receiving these things
(equipment). It is up to us. We are only agreeing to a
standard text for the agreement and it provides India joint
ownership of the process," he said.
The Foreign Secretary said the US had its own laws
that mandated such an agreement with the country to which
defence equipment were exported, adding that every time India
bought military hardware, it negotiated an end-user monitoring
agreement.
Menon said India was also guarded over any future
changes that the US laws would undergo and had ensured that
these did not impact the standard EUMA text agreed upon with
the US.
"We have agreed that whatever we do on EUMA, it will
be joint and no unilateral change can be made. It is a big
victory," he said.
In fact, Menon said, the External Affairs Ministry had
to answere in Parliament and hence had to insulate India from
future changes in US laws.
Pointing out that the US had signed the EUMA with 82
countries to which it supplied defence equipment, he said
India was not singled out for signing this agreement.
‘India to use pol-will to bring normalcy in Lanka’
India today said it would use
every bit of "political will" to make sure that there is
equality in Sri Lanka and improvement on the ground situation
after the LTTE was wiped out there.
"Our priority is to get improvement on the ground
situation in Sri Lanka," Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon
said addressing Members of Parliament here.
"We will use every bit of political to make sure there is
equality in Sri Lanka," he said adding, "We will do what we
can can to make it happen".
The Foreign Secretary also stressed for a need to have a
broad-based discussions with MPs here to address their
concerns on the issue.
Menon further said India was trying to revive agriculture
in northern Sri Lanka, which had been an LTTE stronghold.
"There is an urgent need for people to get back to their
normal lives there (northern Sri Lanka)," he said adding that
India had a big interest in Sri Lanka`s return to normalcy.
Bureau Report
