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India for strong ties with ASEAN

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, JULY 1. The External Affairs Minister, K. Natwar Singh, today assured the Indonesian President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, of India's "commitment to further strengthen relations with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).''

Indonesia currently holds the ASEAN Chair.

Mr. Singh conveyed this message to Ms. Megawati in "a warm and friendly conversation" in Jakarta today, ahead of tomorrow's 11th annual meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), according to the External Affairs Ministry spokesman, Navtej Sarna. Mr. Singh, who called on Ms. Megawati, along with the Foreign Ministers of the other dialogue-partners of the ASEAN, assured her of India's commitment to strong ties with Indonesia as well.

Mr. Singh held a hectic round of consultations with the Foreign Ministers of Russia, Canada, New Zealand, Mongolia and top European Union officials. The discussions centred, by and large, on bilateral aspects as also current regional and international issues.

Sergei Lovrov of Russia and Mr. Singh carried out a "detailed review" of the India-Russia "strategic partnership" and they "looked at the calendar of events" on the bilateral front between now and the annual summit later this year. The other subjects covered included the issues before the United Nations for the later part of this year and the general situation in Europe at this time.

With the European Union's top officials, Chris Patten and Javier Solana, Mr. Singh discussed key international issues such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Singh presented an "overview" of India's assistance for reconstruction activities in Afghanistan.

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