New Delhi: Government on Friday said the nuclear
liability bill and the pacts signed with various countries in
the atomic field represent the "fruits" of efforts being made
aimed at high economic growth through external pre-requisites.
"Over the years, India's development cooperation has
emerged as an important component of our foreign policy,"
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said while addressing
the Heads of Missions here.
"External pre-requisites for sustained high economic
growth over medium to long term include more foreign
investment, and meeting our growing energy needs," he said,
adding "the agreements that India has concluded in the recent
past in the field of civil nuclear energy, and the nuclear
liability bill represent fruits of such efforts."
He said India is rapidly evolving economic content of its
growing partnerships, including those with industrialised
nations such as the US, the UK, France, Russia and Germany.
Of particular relevance in this regard will be the Look
East policy which is aimed at further developing India's
multi-faceted relations with the South East Asia, the East
Asia and the Pacific, Krishna said.
He said India's partners appreciate that India's
contributions to their well-being emanate not from a state of
affluence or surpluses.
"Our small development projects represent an innovation
both in terms of targeting and delivery model. We are
successfully replicating this approach in several countries,
even as international development institutions have commended
this model," the minister said.
India's projects in Africa, such as the prestigious Rs
540-crore Pan-African e-Network project, help achieve
e-connectivity in the important fields of tele-education and
tele-medicine and hold enormous promise, he said.
Home Minister P Chidambaram also talked about India's
security environment and challenges and the multi-pronged
strategy adopted by the Ministry to counter these.
PTI
First Published: Friday, August 27, 2010, 23:18