PRIME MINISTER’S STATEMENT ON THE
EVE OF HIS DEPARTURE FOR GERMANY, ST. PETERSBURG (RUSSIA) AND
EVIAN (FRANCE)
The following is
the text of the statement by Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari
Vajpayee on the eve of his departure for Germany, St. Petersburg
(Russia) and Evian (France) here today:
"I leave today on
an official bilateral visit to Germany and visits to St. Petersburg
in Russia and Evian in France.
My bilateral visit
to Germany is pursuant on the agreement between Chancellor Schroeder
and me that we should have regular summit meetings. I hope to
discuss with Chancellor Schroeder, and other representative of
the German leadership, concrete measures to strengthen our political
and economic cooperation and our collaboration on global issue
like international terrorism and WTO. I hope to interact with
German parliamentarians. I also look forward to meeting the small
but dynamic Indian community in Germany.
President Putin has
invited me to the celebrations of the 300th anniversary
of St. Petersburg. I will attend these celebrations along with
Heads of States/Government of a number of countries from the G-8,
Europe, former Soviet Union and China. Besides joining the celebrations,
I hope to have the opportunity of bilateral meetings with a number
of world leaders.
The meeting in Evian
is the result of a progressive initiative of President Chirac
of France to create a framework of dialogue between the G-8 countries
and selected representatives of the developing world. I hope this
meeting would promote a meaningful interaction between these two
groups of countries on a number of political, economic, social
and environmental concerns which are now being discussed in different
international fora. I have often said that we need a forum for
a global dialogue on development which would enable the developing
and developed countries to discuss issues of concern in a cooperative
rather than confrontationist manner and would result in a reconciliation
of differing perceptions and harmonization of approaches. I believe
President Chirac’s initiative could mark a beginning in this direction."
