Ministry of External Affairs Government of India

Official Spokesperson (Shri Vikas Swarup): Good evening and welcome to this weekly press briefing. I do not have any announcements to make. So, we can get straight into the Q&A.

Question: Would you let us know the visit of the French President? When is he arriving in New Delhi and what are the main engagements during the visit? Also, is the Rafael deal expected to be inked at that point?

Official Spokesperson: As you know, the President of France, His Excellency Mr. Francois Hollande, will be the Chief Guest at our Republic Day Celebrations. This is the fifth time that a serving President of the French Republic will be the Chief Guest at our Republic Day function which is itself a record. No other country has had this honour so many times.

Our bilateral relationship with France is very comprehensive. It covers number of sectors such as defence, civil nuclear cooperation, railways, smart cities, science and research, space and culture. In all these areas we expect some forward progress during the French President’s visit.

On the business side also we have strong ties with our bilateral trade around USD 8 billion of which USD 5 billion are India’s exports to France. This visit will include a CEOs Forum interaction in Chandigarh as well as an India-France Business Summit at which we expect a number of B2B agreements to be signed in the presence of the two leaders.

As you are also probably aware, in a very first of its kind French troops will march along side Indian troops on 26^th January on Rajpath. There has been no occasion in the past when foreign troops have participated in the march past on the Rajpath during our Republic Day Celebrations. But you would also recall that in 2009 Indian troops had participated in the Bastille Day Celebrations in France.

Following the horrendous attack in Paris and the recent terrorist attack at the Pathankot airbase, it would be worth highlighting that cooperation between France and India on matters related to counterterrorism has acquired a very significant dimension. Both India and France are victims of terrorism and we can expect a lot of discussions on this particular issue.

France is also a green superpower. It may be recalled that France successfully concluded the COP21 negotiations in Paris. The French leadership has been extremely appreciative of the fact that India contributed meaningfully to the successful Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Further discussions during the French President’s forthcoming visit will relate to concrete cooperation in this area between the two countries.

You would also remember that the International Solar Alliance, which was Prime Minister Modi’s initiative, was launched in Paris on the 30^th of November 2015 jointly by the Indian Prime Minister and the French President. This will now be taken forward with the Prime Minister and President Hollande inaugurating the International Solar Alliance Secretariat at the National Institute of Solar Energy in Gurgaon.

These I would say are the broad aspects. I can also mention that the first ever meeting of the Maritime Dialogue between France and India was recently held. Both countries have vital interests in the Indian Ocean and prospects for further maritime cooperation will be also discussed between the two countries.

Broadly, we have a very special strategic partnership with France and we expect that during the forthcoming visit of President Hollande this special and strategic partnership will be carried forward in a whole host of areas.

I would not like to comment specifically on the Rafael deal. Negotiations are at an advance stage and basically it is for the Ministry of Defence really to comment on that particular aspect.

Schedule, I will give you after this press conference.

Question: What is the progress on the Pathankot terror attack between India and Pakistan? Have the two National Security Advisors been in touch? Have they met on any occasion?

Official Spokesperson: The two National Security Advisors have not met but they have been in touch. We continue to closely follow up on the progress of the investigations in Pakistan on the Pathankot terrorist attack.

Question: …(Inaudible)…

Official Spokesperson: As you know, we provided some actionable intelligence to Pakistan on the basis of which they arrested some members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, they sealed some places. We continue to expect robust action by Pakistan against all perpetrators of the Pathankot terrorist attack and bringing all of them to book.

Question: Has there been a date set for Foreign Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan?

Official Spokesperson: No, unfortunately we do not have a date yet but the two Foreign Secretaries have been in touch, and as soon as a mutually convenient date is found we will let you know.

Question: I have a follow-up question related to what you have just said. Do you have information about who exactly has been arrested in Pakistan and is India satisfied that the perpetrators of the attack have been apprehended?

Official Spokesperson: As I had mentioned in my last briefing, we are looking for credible and comprehensive action against all perpetrators of the Pathankot terrorist attack by Pakistan and bringing them all to justice.

Question: NSA ke pichhle savaal ko aage badhate hue, kya donon deshon ke NSAs ke beech mulaaqaat ka jaldi koi karyakram hai ini deshon mein ya kisi third country mein?

Official Spokesperson: Yadi aisa koi karyakram hai toh mujhe uski soochna abhi nahin hai.

Question:Pichhle baar aapne kaha tha ki Pakistan ki ek investigation team vahan se aana chahti hai ya aana chaah rahi hai. Is baare mein koi nayi soochna hai ki vo aanevaali hai ki nahin aanevaali hai?

Official Spokesperson: Jaisa ki aap jaante hain, Pakistan ne kaha tha they are considering to send a special investigation team, hum ne siddhantik taur par uska svaagat kiya tha aur kaha tha yadi aisi team Pakistan bhejega toh hum uska svaagat karenge aur usko poora sahyog denge. Toh uske baad se abhi baat aage nahin badhi hai. Jab Pakistan ke taraf se firm proposal aayega, tab phir modalities vagairah uski work out ki jayengi.

Question: Can you tell us some of the agreements that are expected to be signed with the French?

Official Spokesperson: Generally we want to keep this under wraps till they are actually signed. So, just wait for a couple of days.

Question: And what is his delegation like?

Official Spokesperson: He is coming with a very strong business and media delegation.

Question: Can you provide any details on the security precautions that are being taken for Hollande’s visit? It is being described in media reports there is unprecedented security for any foreign dignitary.

Official Spokesperson: That is not the general practice of the Ministry of External Affairs to comment on those security details. That is really a matter for our internal security agencies, Ministry of Home Affairs.

Question: Was the Prime Minister scheduled to visit Davos and was there any change in his programme …(Inaudible)…

Official Spokesperson: No. I have repeatedly said in my press briefings that the Prime Minister was never scheduled to visit Davos. So, this question of cancellation etc., I do not know where this is coming from. Prime Minister was never scheduled to visit Davos.

Question: There have been reports that the Home Ministry and the Defence Ministry have reservations about allowing this Pakistani investigation team to come here. Are there reservations within the Government on whether this SIT should come?

Official Spokesperson: No. I stand by the statement which I had issued in my last press briefing where I had said that we welcome the decision by the Government of Pakistan to consider sending a special investigative team. As and when they finalize the special investigative team, that is when the issue of the terms of reference of that team, the mandate of that team, where they can go, what they can see, all that will then be discussed between the investigative agencies of the two sides.

Question: Taking a cue from Nidhi’s question, because we also have the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar just a day after your press conference categorically state that no way is a team going to be allowed inside the Pathankot airbase, how does one read that? And in the wake of the attacks yesterday at Charsadda there are couple of media reports that have emerged in Pakistan that are pointing fingers towards India and a role in Indian Embassy in Kabul. Has that been raised officially? What is India’s stand on that?

Official Spokesperson: No, that has not been raised officially and we completely dismiss these totally baseless allegations.

Insofar as the first part of your question was concerned, as I had said, in principle we have welcomed the decision of the Pakistan Government to consider sending a special investigative team. The rest is a matter of detail. Where they can visit, what they can see, what will be the terms of reference, etc., as I said, those will need to be worked out in detail between the agencies on both sides provided the Pakistan Government firms up its decision to send that special investigative team.

Question: Can you provide us some details about the EAM’s visit to Israel and Palestine? In the dialogue with Israel, what are the takeaways in terms of defence production as well as counterterrorism?

Official Spokesperson: The visit was not a transactional kind of a thing, what we can get out of them and what we can give in return. The idea was really to strengthen our relations with both Palestine and Israel in a very important region of the world, particularly from the point of view of India.

With Palestine it was an opportunity for External Affairs Minister to reiterate our longstanding position of consistent support to the people of Palestine, to express solidarity with the Palestinian cause, and also to reiterate our commitment to continue to assist Palestine in its capacity building efforts. As you know, five projects were announced during the visit of the President to Palestine. There is a techno park, there is the IT centre, there is also the Palestine Institute for Diplomacy, these are among those five projects. EAM reiterated that we remain totally committed to implementing these projects on a fast-track basis.

With Israel, as you know, we have a very broad-based relationship covering a number of areas. And External Affairs Minister was at pains to emphasise that we must move beyond defence and agriculture, we must enlarge this relationship to cover new sectors such as science and technology, innovation in particular. Israel is one of the most innovative nations in the world. Their start up culture is absolutely amazing. And this was an opportunity for us to tell the Israeli leadership that we remain committed to further consolidating the partnership between the two countries and expanding to new areas as well.

Question: There has been an attack in Pathankot, there has been an attack in Peshawar, again in Kabul. Do you know or do you have any feeling that these attacks are being coordinated from one centre who is attacking both India, Pakistan and Afghanistan at different points of time?

Official Spokesperson: On what basis can you say that they are all being coordinated from one centre? I mean attacks are happening all over the world. We just saw an attack in Jakarta also recently. We saw an attack in Istanbul. So, on what basis are you saying that?

I think what these attacks really show is that terrorism is now the single greatest challenge facing the international community and everybody has to unite against this menace, this scourge, and end this distinction between good terrorists and bad terrorists once and for all.

Question: …(Inaudible)…

Official Spokesperson: Haan, bikul.

Question: …(Inaudible)…Syria mein jo chaar bhartiya pakde gaye hain, uska koi confirmation …(Inaudible)…

Official Spokesperson: Us mein basically hamaara Dutavaas hai Damasucs mein vo is par Syrian authorities ke saath baat-cheet kar raha hai ki unke details hum ko diye jayein, unko Consular access hamein pradaan ki jaye taaki hum ascertain kar sakein ki vaaqayi unki nationality Bharatiya hai. Aur yadi vo Bharatiya nikle toh unko jald se jald hum Bharat repatriate karvaayenge.

Question: Bangladesh Foreign Secretary is supposed to come here at the end of this month. What are the topics that would be discussed? Is it a routine one or is it a special one?

Official Spokesperson: With Bangladesh everything is special because it is a very special relationship that we share with them and, as you know, we have a very broad-based partnership now with Bangladesh also covering so many sectors. When Prime Minister had gone to Bangladesh you saw the number of agreements that were signed between the two sides. So, the idea of this Foreign Office consultation is to really carry forward the cooperation with Bangladesh on all those areas. The Land Boundary Agreement has been successfully implemented now. Now the time has come for us to broad-base the relationship, take it into a whole host of new areas. Probably when the meeting actually happens, I will be able to give you more information on what were the substantive outcomes.

Question: In relation with the threat received by the French Consulate in Bengaluru - they received a letter of threat related to the visit of Hollande to India - do you have any information?

Official Spokesperson: As I said, this again is a matter for our security agencies. So, I am sure they are dealing with this.

Question: On the special investigative team coming from Pakistan, would they be coming when the Indian investigations are going on or would they have to wait till the Indian investigations are over?

Official Spokesperson: As I said, we have had no further communication from Pakistan apart from that initial statement that they are considering sending a special investigative team which we have welcomed. Now as I said, we await further details from the Pakistani side to take this forward.

Question: Sir, vo teen saal puraana case jis mein Hamid Ansari naam ke shakhs ka humne consular access Pakistan se manga tha jo Afghanistan se Pakistan chale gaye thei. Us baare main kya humko consular mil raha hai?

Official Spokesperson: Abhi toh nahin mila hai. Jo Kohat ki jail main hain unki baat aap kar rahe hain na? Vo toh thoda pechida maamla hai kyon ki kis provision ke under mein unko arrest kiya gaya hai vo sab humein dekhna padega. But hamaare Dutavaas ne unke liye consular access maanga hua hai. Jab milega tab baat aage badhegi.

Okay, I think with that we have finished all the questions. Thank you very much.

(Concluded)