Diplomacy

Earlier in the day, the visiting group also met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Sharma to share experiences relating to electoral management and administration in two countries.

As foreign minister S Jaishankar returns from a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Nagoya, Japan, India is intensifying its engagement with key countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

External Affairs Ministry said that the year-long activities starting from 2020 will demonstrate historic connect between two civilisations as well as growing bilateral relations.

The extradition treaty was first signed in 2016 when President Ashraf Ghani visited India. The operationalisation of will enable India to extradite Pakistan-origin terrorists from banned groups who operate from Afghan soil.

Vietnam and India have witnessed the sound development of friendship and traditional cooperation in the past years, particularly defence ties. The Vietnamese Government, people and army always attach importance to developing the comprehensive and practical relations with India, contributing to maintaining regional peace, stability and prosperity.

After years of negotiations, India had pulled out of the China-backed mega Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) over unresolved “core concerns”, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying in Bangkok that the proposed deal would have adverse impact on the lives and livelihoods of all Indians.

The summit was attended by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar who also held several bilateral and multilateral meetings on its margins, including meeting with the Foreign Ministers of Republic of Korea, Netherlands and Singapore.

Speaking at its first coastal security workshop, Vijay Singh Thakur, Secretary (East) in the MEA said India attaches great importance to the grouping of South and Southeast Asian nations and it is a part of its neighbourhood first policy.

“You hear officials say now that the US exercises more with India than any other non-NATO partner,” said Alyssa Ayres, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “You would never have imagined that 20 years ago.”

“I welcome the idea of India planning to launch its own space station and Russia is more than happy to collaborate with India to help them achieve this. My visit to India aims to strengthen the ties between Indian and Russia in the fields of culture, sports, education as well as economic. I will try to help India in all the space endeavours in possible ways,” Mr. Revin said.