The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has extended condolences on the demise of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has extended condolences on the demise of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
"It was with deep grief that we learnt of the demise of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. France offers its condolences to his family as well as the Indian authorities and people," France said in a statement on Friday.
France remembered Vajpayee as a poet, politician and a visionary whose name will be forever linked to Indo-France friendship.
"Poet, politician, visionary, he left his mark on India?s history. His name remains linked to the Indo-French friendship, which he shaped by launching the strategic partnership that has united our two countries since 1998," read the statement.
The former prime minister breathed his last on Thursday after a prolonged illness at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS). He was 93.
He served as the Prime Minister of India between 1996 and 2004 in three non-consecutive terms.
Chinese scholars also remembered Vajpayee. From the 1998 nuclear tests that angered China to initiating a new boundary talks mechanism in 2003, Atal Bihari Vajpayee is regarded here as an architect of India's China policy, according to Chinese scholars.
While the Pokhran tests by India, seen as an attempt to secure nuclear deterrence mainly against its giant neighbour raised concerns in China, the then Indian prime minister's initiative to set up the Special Representative (SR) mechanism to resolve the boundary dispute has helped stabilise bilateral ties, Ma Jiali, Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at China Reform Forum, told PTI.
Ma, who worked closely with former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on the Sino-India ties, said Vajpayee's visit to China in 2003 contributed a great deal in stabilising bilateral relations.
"During Vajpayee's rule, India-China relations improved a lot. After his visit in 2003, India-China relations improved quite fast in the political, economic and cultural field," he said.
In 2016, Dai Bingguo, China's long-term negotiator of boundary dispute with India, wrote in his memoir that Vajpayee was eager for an early settlement of the Sino-India boundary dispute but lost the opportunity when he lost the 2014 general elections.
It was during a dinner meeting with his counterpart Wen in 2003 when Vajpayee mooted the idea of setting up of the SR mechanism, former state councillor Dai wrote in his memoir 'Strategic Dialogues'.
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