The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony today said India has always walked the extra mile for the sake of peace and security with its neighbours. Inaugurating the 5th South Asia Conference on Cooperative Security here, Shri Antony said New Delhi is committed to build networks of interdependencies in the region.
“Our people deserve peace, security, education, healthcare facilities and sustainable development in equal measure. With regard to our neighbours, we have always demonstrated our willingness to go the extra mile for the sake of peace and security, even on a non-reciprocal basis, if required,” he said.
Referring to Pakistan, he said there are already clear signs that Indo-Pakistan trade relations might improve and expand. Shri Antony said the expansion in cooperation has created an atmosphere to expand the dialogue on cooperative security. However, “we need to change our mindsets, if we really wish to reap the benefits of mutual cooperation,” he said.
Welcoming the foreign delegates including those from Pakistan, Afghanistan and other South Asian countries, Shri Antony said that asymmetries among countries in South Asia need not stand in the way of regional cooperation. “Asymmetries in size, resources and military capabilities must be used as “building blocks” to enhance cooperation-and not be allowed to become “blocks” to regional cooperation,” he added.
Pointing out that India has recently signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Afghanistan and a Framework Cooperation Agreement has been drawn up with Bangladesh, Shri Antony advocated bilateral and regional defence cooperation including exchange of delegations.“We pay special attention to defence cooperation by increasing the frequency of defence exchanges with defence forces from a large number of friendly countries. These defence exchanges are aimed at enhancing capacity building, training and cooperation among friendly nations. Indian defence forces have made a significant contribution towards disaster management and humanitarian relief work and received widespread appreciation for their efforts,” he added. Exhorting a regional security model on the patterns of South East Asia and Central Asia, the Defence Minister mooted a cooperative security architecture focusing on issues related to soft security. “The ambit of the concept of security today includes a range of other issues affecting human security. Several UN summits have been held in the past two decades on diverse issues pertaining to human security viz- population, food, information, society, environment and climate change. This expansion in the concept of national security has created new opportunities for cooperation between nation states,” he said.
“India too has set up regular mechanisms of dialogue and cooperation with SAARC countries at bilateral level. We must further expand the scope of such discussions to include issues pertaining to human security. At the non-official level, there is an even greater scope for expanding the dialogue and further intensifying people-to-people contacts,” he added.
Pointing out that terrorism continues to be a problem, Shri Antony said that “the gamut of security issues facing various nations is largely non-traditional and asymmetric. Increasingly, non-state actors with cross national linkages pose critical challenges. Nations need to draw up collective and innovative measures to effectively counter such evil designs”.
“Our people deserve peace, security, education, healthcare facilities and sustainable development in equal measure. With regard to our neighbours, we have always demonstrated our willingness to go the extra mile for the sake of peace and security, even on a non-reciprocal basis, if required,” he said.
Referring to Pakistan, he said there are already clear signs that Indo-Pakistan trade relations might improve and expand. Shri Antony said the expansion in cooperation has created an atmosphere to expand the dialogue on cooperative security. However, “we need to change our mindsets, if we really wish to reap the benefits of mutual cooperation,” he said.
Welcoming the foreign delegates including those from Pakistan, Afghanistan and other South Asian countries, Shri Antony said that asymmetries among countries in South Asia need not stand in the way of regional cooperation. “Asymmetries in size, resources and military capabilities must be used as “building blocks” to enhance cooperation-and not be allowed to become “blocks” to regional cooperation,” he added.
Pointing out that India has recently signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Afghanistan and a Framework Cooperation Agreement has been drawn up with Bangladesh, Shri Antony advocated bilateral and regional defence cooperation including exchange of delegations.“We pay special attention to defence cooperation by increasing the frequency of defence exchanges with defence forces from a large number of friendly countries. These defence exchanges are aimed at enhancing capacity building, training and cooperation among friendly nations. Indian defence forces have made a significant contribution towards disaster management and humanitarian relief work and received widespread appreciation for their efforts,” he added. Exhorting a regional security model on the patterns of South East Asia and Central Asia, the Defence Minister mooted a cooperative security architecture focusing on issues related to soft security. “The ambit of the concept of security today includes a range of other issues affecting human security. Several UN summits have been held in the past two decades on diverse issues pertaining to human security viz- population, food, information, society, environment and climate change. This expansion in the concept of national security has created new opportunities for cooperation between nation states,” he said.
“India too has set up regular mechanisms of dialogue and cooperation with SAARC countries at bilateral level. We must further expand the scope of such discussions to include issues pertaining to human security. At the non-official level, there is an even greater scope for expanding the dialogue and further intensifying people-to-people contacts,” he added.
Pointing out that terrorism continues to be a problem, Shri Antony said that “the gamut of security issues facing various nations is largely non-traditional and asymmetric. Increasingly, non-state actors with cross national linkages pose critical challenges. Nations need to draw up collective and innovative measures to effectively counter such evil designs”.