India and Russia on Monday came out with a comprehensive joint declaration in which Russia said it considers India a “deserving and strong candidate for a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council”.
The two called for a “new, democratic and fair multi-polar world” that is based on “collective approaches, supremacy of international law, and adherence to the goals and principles enshrined in the UN Charter.”
In the broad and sweeping joint declaration, the two sides said that they would support international efforts aimed at “global, complete and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons”.
The two said their strategic partnership was the culmination of the “long and multifaceted bilateral relations that have flourished between the two countries” since 1947 and is a “key foreign policy priority for both the sides”.
The declaration said their “deepening partnership is not impacted in any way by the engagement of the two countries with the rest of the world” and that the relationship “has emerged as a factor of peace and stability in the region and the world”.
It said the two sides recognise that an effective response to regional and global challenges in future “demands that India and Russia intensify their strategic partnership.” And the two sides declared that they will “take steps to deepen bilateral cooperation and raise their strategic partnership to the next level”.
On Afghanistan, the two took a firm stand, and diverged from the growing thinking, primarily among the US-led alliance, of distinguishing between good and bad Taliban.
“They agree that the fight against terrorism cannot be selective, and drawing false distinctions between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban would be counter-productive,” the declaration said.
The declaration was issued after a meeting between prime minister Manmohan Singh and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
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