1991 January Volume No XXXVII NO 1 1995 CONTENTS Foreign Affairs Record VOL XXXVII No 1 January, 1991 CONTENTS BANGLADESH India-Bangladesh Cooperation 1 JAPAN Japanese Grant Assistance to India 1 Indo-Japanese Rafting Expedition 2 OFFICIAL SPOKESMAN'S STATEMENTS Gulf 2 GULF: HOM's Conference at New Delhi 3 Visit of Secretary (East) to Cambodia 4 Gulf Situation 5 Indo-British Official Talks 6 Lithuania (USSR) 6 Gulf 6 Sri Lanka 7 Japanese Assistance for Projects in India 8 Gulf: USAF Aircraft Refuelling at Bombay 8 Indo-Namibian Cultural Agreement 8 PAPUA NEW GUINEA High Commissioner of Papua New Guinea Presented Credentials 9 ROMANIA 9 Indo-Romanian Trade 9 SEYCHELLES Seychelles Education Minister Arrived in India 10 SWEDEN Sweden Abolished Textile Quotas 11 UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS Indo-Soviet Joint Ventures in Wind Energy Sector 11 VIETNAM Closer Ties between India and Vietnam 12 NGLADESH INDIA JAPAN CAMBODIA USA SRI LANKA NAMIBIA GUINEA PAPUA NEW GUINEA OMAN ROMANIA SEYCHELLES SWEDEN VIETNAM Date : Jan 01, 1991 Volume No XXXVII NO 1 1995 BANGLADESH India-Bangladesh Cooperation The following is the text of a press release issued in New Delhi on Jan 15, 1991 on India-Bangladesh Cooperation: India and Bangladesh have signed a contract agreement for provision of modern facilities for training in Railway operations in Bangladesh. The agreement was signed on January 14, 1991 at Dhaka by Shri M. D. Khattar, Managing Director, Indian Railway Construction Company (IRCON) and Mr. Nurul Momin Khan, Secretary, Ministry of Communications, People's Republic of Bangladesh. Shri S. Paul, acting High Commissioner of India and other senior officials of the Indian High Commission were present on the occasion. In line with the growing trends of regional cooperation between India and Bangladesh a sophisticated Railway Working Model Facility will be provided to the Bangladesh Railway by the Government of India in furtherance of the training of their Railway personnel. This facility will be installed entirely with Indian expertise with working train models incorporating a variety of signalling systems existing in the Bangladesh Railways. The Railway Model Room to be established in the Train Academy at Chittagong will be provided by Indian Railway Construction Company Ltd. (IRCON), a Public Sector Undertaking of the Ministry of Railways which has taken up a turn-key project involving the Design, Fabrication, Installation and commissioning of the equipments. The Project with an overall cost of Rs. 65 lakhs is being rendered as a Gift to the Bangladesh Railway as a goodwill gesture to the people of Bangladesh. This training facility being provided as a measure of technology transfer will help supplement the training of Railway personnel with the necessary practical training in safe and efficient train operations using working models. The signalling system to be incorporated will comprise the conventional mechanical signalling as well as the state of art Route Relay Interlocking System. NGLADESH INDIA USA Date : Jan 15, 1991 Volume No XXXVII NO 1 1995 JAPAN Japanese Grant Assistance to India The following is the text of a press release issued in New Delhi on Jan 22, 1991 on the Japanese assistance to India: Japan will extend grant assistance of Yen 1,356 million (about Rs. 18.3 crore) to India for the year 1990-91. Notes to this effect were exchanged here today between Finance Secretary, Shri S. P. Shukla and the Ambassador of Japan to India Mr. Shunji Kobayashi. Out of the total grant assistance Rs. 13.2 crores will be for the -1> Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia Central University and remaining amount of nearly Rs. 5 crore to MATSYAFED, Kerala. The grant of Rs. 13.2 crore will be utilised for providing programme production equipment for Mass Communication Research Centre in Jamia. Millia Islamia Central University. The grant covers the purchase of equipments and services necessary for the installation of the equipments. Rs. 5 crore grant aid to MATSYAFED Kerala will be used for execution of the expansion of Net-making machines project to be implemented through Kerala State Cooperative Federation for Fisheries Development (MATSYAFED). PAN INDIA UNITED KINGDOM USA Date : Jan 22, 1991 Volume No XXXVII NO 1 1995 JAPAN Indo-japanese Rafting Expedition The following is the text of a press release issued in New Delhi on Jan 23, 1991 on the Indo-Japanese rafting expedition: The Indo-Japanese Bhramputra Rafting Expedition has successfully completed the difficult first phase of rafting down river Bhramputra from Gelling to Passighat, according to information reaching here today. The expedition, a maiden rafting venture in river Bhramputra, covered deep gorge of Siang on raft for the first time and many difficult grade 5 and 6 rapids before reaching Passighat. In a major rafting accident ten of the twelve members got thrown out of the raft with high waves but were rescued successfully without any major injuries. In the second phase the expedition will raft down flat water section of Bhramputra river from Passighat to Dhubri near Bangladesh border. Led by Shri S. P. Chamoli, the expedition was flagged off from Gelling on January 6, 1991. PAN INDIA BANGLADESH Date : Jan 23, 1991 Volume No XXXVII NO 1 1995 OFFICIAL SPOKESMAN'S STATEMENTS Gulf The following is the text of a statement issued by the Official Spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on Jan 04, 1991 on Gulf: The Iraqi Special Envoy had seperate meetings with the Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister. The prime thrust of the meeting was to express our deep concern as well as universal anxiety about the developments in the region and our sincere desire that the Americans and the Iraqis meet as soon as possible. The meeting has vital significance, because as External Affairs Minister put it, there was a risk that the crisis reach a point of no return. External Affairs Minister also stressed that we were interested in a peaceful solu- -2> tion and in that context, we expressed the hope that a discussion between the Americans and the Iraqis would assist in the process. We have always been in favour of a peaceful solution. Both the Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister have indicated in their discussions with the Iraqi Special Envoy that India would be glad to help if need be, in whatever capacity, we can serve, in bringing about a peaceful solution. We have not put forward any proposal for mediation nor has Iraq come forward with any proposal. We will be guided by Security Council Resolution 661 and its interpretations. Our adherence to that particular line of policy remains unchanged. We will stick to those resolutions. We are to lift their oil in compensation for past dues. We have agreed to study these and other proposals carefully: joint ventures and certain other aspects of economic deliberations. We have stated that this proposal will be examined but strictly within the context of the UN Security Council Resolution 661 and the interpretations that have been made of this Resolution by the Sanctions Committee. No specific quantity of oil was offered. Last year when the crisis broke in September-October, they had also made this offer and we had declined due to the sanctions embargo. The principal thrust was the urgent need for the two sides to talk, as External Affairs Minister put it, such a meeting is essential before the crisis reaches a point of no return. Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister have indicated that India would be glad to be of help if need be, if there is any role to be played. Our views on withdrawal are very clear and have been reiterated. Our position on the question of linkage (Iraqi issue and Palestinian issue) is that merely because. there has been no progress in resolving any one question does not mean that we should stall progress or moves towards finding a solution on the other question. Iraq and India have a solid foundation for friendship based on cooperation - economic and political. DIA IRAQ USA CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Date : Jan 04, 1991 Volume No XXXVII NO 1 1995 OFFICIAL SPOKESMAN'S STATEMENTS GULF: HOM's Conference at New Delhi The following is the text of a statement issued by the Spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs on Gulf in New Delhi on Jan 11, 1991: The Conference of Heads of Missions of the Gulf Region was inaugurated by the External Affairs Minister this morning. This afternoon, the Deputy Minister of External Affairs, Shri Dig Vijay Singh also addressed the Conference. The Ministers were assisted by the Foreign Secretary, Additional Secretary (POL, Additional Secretary (ER), Joint Secretary (GD), Joint Secretary (AMS), Joint Secretary (EE) and Joint Secretary (Pers). Those attending the Conference include Shri K. N. Bakshi (Ambassador in Iraq), Shri Hamid Ansari (Tehran), Shri Ishrat Aziz (Riyadh), Shri R. Muley (Damascus), Shri Ranjit Gupta (Muscat, Shri Santosh Kumar (Sanaa), Shri L. N. Nazreth (Cairo), Shri Arun Budhiraja (Kuwait), Shri N. R. Verma (Bahrain), Shri Ramesh Shukla (Doha) and Shri Ranjit Sethi (Abu Dhabi). This is a two-day Conference. The focus of the Conference is to evaluate perceptions on India's policy on the Gulf Crisis to examine, likely scenarios and the unfolding of events in the coming -3> weeks. Addressing the Conference, the Minister of External Affairs, Shri V. C. Shukla said that he hoped that the deliberations of the Heads of Missions would help clarify our own thinking, on a crisis, which was unprecedented, in its dimensions. He underlined the geo-political reality of the inter- linkage between West Asia and South Asia, and said that there was no doubt about the serious effects that events in one region would inevitably have on the other.