Monday, Sep 15, 2003
Monday, Sep 15, 2003 |
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By Amit Baruah
Well-placed sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said today that "all issues" — bilateral, regional and international — would be up for discussion during the meeting. They said a recent visit here by the U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, was in preparation for the meeting between Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Bush. Without doubt, Iraq will be a major issue on the agenda when the two meet formally — their last meeting, too, had taken place on the sidelines of the General Assembly last year in September. The two leaders met again in May when they were guests of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, during the 300 years celebration of the city of St. Petersburg, and were seated at the same dinner table.
`Troika meet'
Two other meetings in New York will be watched with interest. For the second year running, the Foreign Ministers of India, China and Russia will meet as a "troika" to discuss issues relating to the U.N. India has offered to host this meeting, scheduled for September 24. Last year, the Russians convened discussions between the three Ministers; this year it will be hosted by the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha. The third meeting of interest will be the informal meeting of SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation) Foreign Ministers in New York. This meeting too has become a convention since all SAARC Ministers usually take part in the General Assembly. Here the focus will be on the much-postponed SAARC summit, which is now to be held in the first week of January in Islamabad. Foreign Secretaries of the seven SAARC countries recently gave consent to the dates during their deliberations in Kathmandu. Referring to the Vajpayee-Bush meeting, the sources said it was unlikely that "clarity" on the enhanced role for the U.N. in Iraq would be available by the time they meet. On the remarks by the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, that he had received no official word about India not participating in a proposed multinational force for Iraq, the sources pointed out that prior to the July 14 decision of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) that Indian troops would not serve under direct U.S.-British command, the U.S. Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, had written to the Government of India. And, in line with the CCS decision, the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, had replied to Mr. Rumsfeld. In the present scenario, the Government believes that this is a sufficient response to the U.S.
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