Harmonious Relations
The treaty has consolidated our friendship and provided a fresh momentum for the further growth of our relations. Ties of friendship with the Soviet Union are an integral part of the policy of non-alignment and peaceful co-existence which India has consistently pursued since independence. We have championed the cause of ending the last vestiges of colonialism and racialism. We stand and strive for the accelerated development of developing countries. Above all, we have been following a policy of expanding areas of peace, friendship and co-operation between members of the world community. It has been our effort at all times to establish harmonious relations between nations and peoples which would contribute to strengthening world peace and bringing about relaxation of tensions.
The basic framework of our foreign policy envisages peaceful co-existence, equality, mutual benefit, mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs, mutual non-aggression and mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Our belief in a policy of peace, friendship and co-operation is not a matter of expediency. It is rooted in our tradition and way of life, and is the legacy of Buddha, Ashoka, Gandhiji and Nehru.
This is reflected in our approach for a peaceful settlement of world conflicts and in the relations that we have consistently striven to develop on the basis of friendship and understanding with all countries of the world.
The Indo-Soviet treaty of peace, friendship and co-operation embodies, as its very name suggests, three basic concepts that epitomise the essence of Indo-Soviet relations — peace, friendship and co-operation.