Address by Shri E. Ahamed, Minister of State for External Affairs at the 19th Summit of the League of Arab States, Riyadh, 28-29 March 2007
29 March 2007
Your Majesty, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,
Your Majesties, Highness’ and Excellencies, Your Excellency Dr. Amre Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is with great pleasure and pride that I lead the Indian delegation to the 19th Summit of the League of Arab States in this majestic capital, Riyadh. This Summit acquires special significance as it is convened at a time when major events are engaging the Arab world and impacting the region. The Arab world itself has seen major changes between the holding the last Summit in Khartoum and the present Summit. The important role played by Your Majesty in consultation with fellow Arab leaders in recent weeks, towards the resolution of some major issues agitating the region deserves high praise. This is an auspicious beginning to the 19th Summit of League of Arab States.
Your Majesty,
2. India has been closely following developments in the Arab world, and with care and concern. In underlining this interest, it is not incomprehensible that we have had several high-level visits from and to the Arab world in the last year beginning with the State Visit of Your Majesty in January. We were also privileged to receive His Majesty King Abdullah the Second of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Jaber al Ahmed al Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait and very recently, His Highness Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Kingdom of Bahrain and His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, besides hosting high-level visits from Egypt and Morocco. Earlier, we had the pleasure of hosting His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, Mr. Driss Jetou, Prime Minister of Morocco and Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestine. Delegations from my country have visited almost all Arab states. I myself have been privileged to travel to the Gulf and other Arab countries. Thus, the interaction at all levels between India and the Arab world is healthy, cordial, multifaceted and rapidly expanding.
Your Majesty,
3. I bring to you an affirmation of this relationship through a message of goodwill and friendship addressed to you and to the Summit by my Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh whose government has implemented a policy decision from its outset to enhance our relations with the Arab world to new heights. I quote:
“India has always extended principled and consistent support to Arab causes. I wish to express warm appreciation for Your Majesty's wisdom in facilitating the Mecca Agreement. Issues of interest to the Arab world have always been high in India's foreign policy priorities.
I am happy to inform Your Majesty that we have had very productive and wide-ranging consultations within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding of 2002 between India and the League of Arab States.
We look forward to Your Majesty's gracious support on this occasion in consolidating the excellent relations which we enjoy with the member States of the Arab League. May I also request Your Majesty's kindness in conveying the greetings of the Indian people to the Heads of States and Government of all delegations attending the Summit?”
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4. The centuries-old ties that bind India to the Arab world are too numerous, strong and varied for me to enumerate. In modern times, our destinies have been linked during our respective freedom struggles and it was only appropriate that India was one of the first countries where the League of Arab States opened an office in the early 1950s soon after our independence in 1947. The role and the stature of League of Arab States has increased in international fora representing an importance voice in mediation and dialogue for contentious issues agitating the region, in West Asia, Gulf or North Africa, that have an impact beyond the immediate neighbourhood. India believes in finding solutions through peaceful dialogue, discussion and reconciliation among the various groups involved rather than resort to force.
Your Majesty,
5. In this regard I wish to reiterate the strong support and commitment of the Government and the people of India to the just and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, the cause of Palestine and to the establishment of the State of Palestine. We support the path of peaceful negotiations leading to the establishment of a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, within well-defined and recognised borders, living in peaceful coexistence with its neighbours.
6. The Government of India in this regard specially commends and welcomes the personal initiative and efforts undertaken by Your Majesty, towards the realisation of a Palestinian Government of National Unity, under President Mr. Mahmoud Abbas through the ground-breaking Mecca Agreement of 8th February 2007. We welcome the cooperation of all Palestinian leaders in this regard.
7. We further welcome the formal setting up of the Palestinian Government of National Unity on 18th March, 2007 under President Mahmoud Abbas resulting from the Mecca Agreement, and signalling reconciliation and cooperation among the Palestinians and encourage all parties concerned to work towards resumption of dialogue in the peace process as a follow-up. India is willing to work further with the Palestinian Authority in their reconstruction of their nation.
8. India supports a comprehensive and just peace in West Asia which addresses all tracks of the peace process.
9. All these recent developments mentioned above, in West Asia would not be incompatible with the Beirut Peace Plan of 2002.
Your Majesties, Excellencies,
10. The Government of India attaches
a high priority to its multi-faceted relations with the Arab nations. Over the
years, the arts, culture, trade and the sciences have brought together our many
cultures for mutual enrichment of our societies and people-to-people contact.
India and the Arab nations form part of each others’ strategic and commercial
neighbourhood.
11. In the 21st century, even as India focuses with greater intensity on the Arab world, we witness growing and rapid engagement from Arab nations in the Indian economy and trade. There are great complementarities between our economies since Arab nations are important sources of our energy and a growing destination for our investments and an expanding market for our goods. Approximately 5 million Indians live in Arab nations and engage in their economies and societies. We on our part welcome Arab investors and chambers of commerce to take advantage of the booming Indian economy. We are happy to see that Arab Chambers of Commerce are already working on a track-II engagement and in the last year alone we have had delegation from several Arab countries in the Gulf, West Asia as well as North Africa, coming to India and vice versa.
12. Addressing the 79th Annual General Meeting of Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, in January earlier this year, our Prime Minister said of the Indian economy and I quote:
“Apart from the higher rate of investment, which is now at an all-time peak of 31% of GDP, what has sustained the above 8% annual rate of growth of the economy is the altered state of expectations. New opportunities are being created to promote public-private partnerships for the expansion and modernization of infrastructure sectors. Not only do we have a goal of investing over US $ 320 billion in our infrastructure sectors, we have also created the necessary institutional structures and tangible investment opportunities to enable this investment to actually happen.”
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13. Indian entrepreneurs have already invested in joint ventures, in energy, power, health, infrastructure, IT, shipping, air services, higher education, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, agriculture machinery, etc. in Arab nations. India-Arab Trade Fairs have been highly successful in 2006 and have been held in Gulf, Sudan and Morocco.
Your Majesty,
14. India would wish to evolve a more structured framework with the League of Arab States with regular high-level interaction with the Secretary General Dr. Amre Moussa and other members and with greater focus on the economy, trade and health services with private and public partnership, and an active involvement of the Chambers of Commerce. May I point out that India will be more than happy to cooperate with the Arab countries as a partner in a mutually beneficial relationship?
15. In conclusion, I would like to convey my gratitude to Your Majesty and to the Government of the Kingdom of the Saudi Arabia for the excellent arrangements made for the Summit and for the gracious hospitality extended to the members of my delegation. On behalf of the people of India and the leadership, I convey our good wishes for the success of the Summit.
Thank you.
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