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Partnership and common purpose with Sri Lanka
Q.
It is understood that this is your first visit abroad after you assumed duties as Foreign Minister of India. We would like you to throw some light on the purpose persuading you to undertake this visit.
A.
This is indeed my first visit abroad after becoming Foreign Minister. I am delighted to be here. Wherever I have gone, I have met with friendly smiles and warm handshakes. I believe this was so, not only because of the traditional hospitability of the people here but also because of the sense of partnership and common purpose that has grown so significantly between our two countries in recent years.
You asked about the object of my visit. Well, between close friends, visits need not necessarily be related to any specific purpose. But, as the new Foreign Minister of India, I very much wanted to take the first opportunity of acquainting myself with the leaders and people of your beautiful country, and to see something of the remarkable social and economic progress that you have made since independence. Since our two countries are faced with much the same problems --- there may be differences of degree, but, essentially, the problems of development are the same — the exchange of information, ideas and experience can be of great mutual benefit.
I have come here to look and to listen. From what I have seen and what I have heard, I am more than ever persuaded that there are immense possibilities for furthering co-operation between our two countries not only to their mutual advantage but also in the interests of peace, stability and progress of the entire region.
Q.
Are you satisfied with the present state of relations between our two countries? What are the special areas particularly in the field of economic and technical exchanges, in which
co-operation between the two countries could be developed in the future for mutual benefit?
A.
I am satisfied in the sense that there are no outstanding problems between us and that both countries are sincerely desirous of strengthening and deepening relations between them. On important international issues, there is close similarity if not identity of views between our two countries, whether it is the question of the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace, the need to promote regional economic co-operation, of finding solutions to the problems of food, energy and raw materials, of restructuring world trade and economic order on a more equitable basis, on such specific issues as ending colonialism and apartheid in Southern Africa, or the restoration of peace in West Asia, Cyprus and Indo-China.