January 4, 1998

The visits by Russian prime minister and Sri Lankan president refocus on India's traditional alliances.

By Manoj Joshi

Finally India's foreign policy-makers are getting off their obsession with the US and Pakistan. Last week Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov paid a two-day visit to India that reaffirmed the continuing friendship between the two countries despite the trials of a post-Cold War world. And this week, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga makes a three-day state visit, the most significant outcome of which will be the signing of a free-trade treaty with India that should usher in a zero-tariff regime and open up the markets rapidly.

While both visits are important milestones, for Delhi, buffeted by western anger over the Pokhran tests, the Russian visit couldn't have come at a better time. Primakov became the first leader of the Permanent Five of the United Nations to visit the country after the Security Council had roundly condemned India's nuclear tests in May. During the business-like two-day visit, the Russian leader and his Indian counterpart signed six agreements designed to stabilise their post-Cold War economic and political relations and a seventh to confirm and extend, despite considerable American pressure, their military-technical cooperation agreement till the year 2010.

To India's relief the nuclear issue was referred to in passing, with Primakov making remarks for the record as it were. Even the ripples created by Primakov's statement on the first day of his visit on a possible India-Russia-China strategic partnership to create a multi-polar world were stilled by his clarification that the proposal had not been formally mooted to India. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee could honestly tell his Russian guest, "Relations with Russia are a matter of national consensus and enjoy all-party support in India. We are glad the same is true in Russia." Adds a senior Ministry of External Affairs official: "There will be no return to the period of the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation but seven years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union both countries are able to see the continuing benefit of close ties." To underline this, the two countries intend signing a declaration on strategic partnership at the next summit, perhaps in 1999.

Despite the strategic nature of the visit, few details of the military-technical agreement were made available. All that a Ministry of Defence official was willing to say is that the document covers a variety of subjects ranging from Russian military supplies, the possibility of co-production of Russian military equipment and cooperation in research and development. Equally few details were available of the MOU signed by the two sides on the possible purchase of Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov to replace the Indian Navy's ageing Viraat that will have to be decommissioned by 2003. Officials merely said that "the MOU signals our interest in the carrier, but in no way commits us to buy it". Apparently, "the devil still lies in the detail" of the arrangements that would have to be made in the event of a purchase.

With Sri Lanka things have already got off the ground, especially the free-trade agreement. Sri Lanka is looking forward to it because it would make a dent in the adverse balance of trade that it faces with India. While India's growing exports to Sri Lanka topped $559 million (Rs 2,348 crore) in 1997, imports stagnated at $44 million (Rs 185 crore). The treaty therefore makes eminent sense. It also runs on a parallel track with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation's (SAARC) decision to create a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) by 2003.

© Living Media India Ltd