Manmohan Singh left for Brazil, the first Indian PM to do so in 38 years. Indira Gandhi was the last Indian leader to visit the country.
NEW DELHI: Manmohan Singh left for Brazil on Sunday, the first Indian Prime Minister to do so in 38 years. Indira Gandhi was the last Indian leader to travel to Brasilia.
Singh, who has been severely criticised for turning his back on the developing world, is now working towards repairing the balance. The attacks have come not only from his Left allies but also from the Congress.
India, under Nehru was one of the founding fathers of the Non aligned Movement (NAM). The Prime Minister gave the United Nations General Assembly session a miss this year to go to Brazil and later attend the NAM Summit in Cuba.
Before leaving Singh referred to NAM as a “great movement” and said the movement had to be revitalised and reinvented to meet the new challenges confronting the world.
At a time when there is growing cynicism on the relevance of non-alignment in a world dominated by a single super power, India believes there is a role for NAM. “We want to energise the movement because we feel NAM is still relevant and can play a pivotal role in issues of world trade, UN reforms and developmental issues related to the fight against AIDS and other deadly disease,’’ says foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The fight against terror will also dominate the NAM summit in Havana. However, for India the most important part of the Summit will be the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Musharraf. The peace process between India and Pakistan had come to a halt after the Mumbai bombings with New Delhi pointing a finger at Islamabad. The establishment is realising that working together with its neighbours may be a better way to tackle terrorism than by accusations and counter charges. Manmohan Singh will keep this in mind when talking to the General.
Meanwhile, the task of hosting a dinner for NAM delegates has been taken by Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has apparently recovered from abdominal surgery. An updated schedule released on Sunday added that Castro would host the dinner on Friday evening.
The first leg of Manmohan Singh’s visit will be Brazil where he will have bilateral talks with President Lula and a tri lateral summit , where South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki will join the two.
For New Delhi, Brazil is today very important. As the chairman of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, it will play a role in getting the NSG approval for the India-US nuclear deal.
Brazil agreed to give up its nuclear ambitions was pretty cut up with the Indo-US deal. So is South Africa , which also rolled back its nuclear programme and signed the NPT.
Cambridge honour for Manmohan Singh
Nearly 50 years after he earned his first class honours degree in economics from the University of Cambridge, his alma mater will confer an honorary doctorate on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next month. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who is chancellor of the varsity, will bestow the honorary doctor of law degree on Singh at a congregation of Regent House in the University of Cambridge on October 11.
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