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Transcript of Media Briefing by Secretary (East) on Vice President’s Forthcoming Visit to Mongolia (July 12, 2016)

July 13, 2016

Official Spokesperson (Shri Vikas Swarup): Good afternoon friends and welcome to this special briefing on Hon. Vice President’s visit to Mongolia to attend the 11th Summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting. As you all may know, this is the 20th anniversary of the Asia-Europe Forum.

To brief you on this important visit, I have with me Secretary (East) Shrimati Preeti Saran, and OSD to the Vice President Shri Anshuman Gaur. Secretary (East) will give you a broad opening statement explaining the concept behind ASEM, what are our expectations from this meeting, what has been India’s role; and then she is open to taking questions. With that I give the floor to Secretary (East).

Secretary (East) (Shrimati Preeti Saran): Thank you Vikas and good afternoon and thank you for joining us this afternoon for this briefing. This is primarily to tell you about India’s participation at the 11th ASEM, ASEM stands for Asia-Europe Summit, the 11th Summit that is being held in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, on 15th and 16th of July.

The Indian Delegation would be led by Hon. Vice President Shri Ansari. He would be accompanied by other senior members of the Ministry of External Affairs and Vice President’s Secretariat.

The ASEM acronym stands for Asia-Europe representing 51 countries from Asia and Europe, and two organizations – the ASEAN and the European Union. Collective membership of these 53 entities comprises of 62 per cent of the world’s population, 57 per cent of global GDP, and about 60 per cent of world trade. This is a unique platform of dialogue between the two continents - Asia and Europe - in a constructive partnership that entails a political dialogue, economic collaboration as well as socio-cultural exchanges.

Apart from the summit which is held once every two years, the ASEM also meets at the Foreign Ministers’ level every alternate year. In addition to that, the ASEM also meets from time to time at the level of Foreign Ministers. So far about 12 Foreign Minister level meetings have been held in ASEM and about seven cultural level Ministers’ meetings have taken place. There is also another forum within ASEM of parliamentary exchanges. In fact earlier this year in April our Hon. Speaker had participated in the 9th Parliamentary Forum of the ASEM countries which was also held in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

India joined ASEM on 1st of January 2007. So we have participated so far in four earlier summits. Hon. Up Rashtrapatiji in fact had attended an earlier ASEM summit in Brussels that was held in December 2010. In 2013, he also inaugurated the ASEM Foreign Ministers’ meeting that was held in Delhi in November. This year is unique for ASEM because it celebrates 20 years of the establishment of this forum. It was established in 1996.

It is unique again because it is held in the backdrop and the theme of "Twenty Years of ASEM – Partnership for Future through Connectivity”. The format of this two-day summit would be, it will have a welcome ceremony followed by a plenary session, and then there is a lunch engagement and a cultural programme and a gala dinner. Next day, Up Rashtrapatiji will participate in the retreat event. And thereafter, time permitting, we hope that he will have the opportunity to meet with the new leadership in Mongolia.

They have just recently held elections in June this year. There is a new Prime Minister and a new Speaker of the Parliament who is also the leader of the current ruling party. So, we hope that this particular visit, the fact that the Indian Delegation is being represented at the level of our Vice President implies the importance we attach of course to ASEM but also because of the fact that it is being held in Mongolia which is our strategic partner.

You would recall that last year our Hon. Prime Minister had a very successful visit to Mongolia when our comprehensive partnership was upgraded to a strategic partnership. We share cultural, civilisational, historical linkages with Mongolia. The two most binding factors in our relationship are of course Buddhism, which goes back two thousand years as far as our linkages to Mongolia are concerned, and then of course democracy. Mongolia is a new democracy. It turned to democracy in 1990 and thereafter it has held successful elections. So that is yet another binding factor.

Mongolia is a landlocked country. Its immediate two neighbours are of course China and Russia, but Mongolia regards India as its third neighbour. So we have these very strong linkages with them that have been further upgraded following our Prime Minister’s visit last year. And so, Up Rashtrapatiji’s visit this year provides that additional dimension to his visit to Mongolia this year.

I will stop here but would be happy to take questions if you have any.

Official Spokesperson: The floor is now open to questions.

Question: Actually this summit is taking place at a very crucial time when just China has declared that it will not receive any Paper of Arbitration that is coming out on the South China Sea. In Mongolia, I think many of the Asian and European countries will be there. Do you think that India’s is going to have some stand, or going to talk about this because it is affecting the whole region in Asia?

Secretary (East): This is a multilateral forum and the main theme of this particular summit is connecting theme, and we are celebrating 20 years of the formation of this very important forum. So, I would like to focus on what the event is all about and cannot anticipate things.

Official Spokesperson: This briefing is on ASEM. Secretary (East) has already told you what is the main theme of ASEM, what are the likely discussions going to be around that main theme. Please wait for my regular briefing on Thursday.

Question: …(Inaudible)…

Official Spokesperson: This is a press conference on ASEM.

Question: But connectivity has to do with the freedom of navigation.

Official Spokesperson: Please look at my previous briefings, you will see our official stand on the South China Sea.

Question: Sir, last year Prime Minister bhi Mongolia gaye thei, Mongolia se juda hai, aur Mongolia mein unko ek ghoda bhi mila tha gift mein. Us par kuchh aap update de sakenge?

Secretary (East): Ghode ke baare mein toh mujhe is vakt philhaal current jaankaari nahin hai. But I will be happy to provide you details.

Official Spokesperson: Main ne poochha tha JS(EA) se. Ghoda bahut svasth hai. Uski khurak usko di jaa rahi hai, aur bahut aaraam se vo apni jeevan yaapan kar raha hai Mongolia mein.

Question: What will be main thrust of Vice President’s presentation during the ASEM summit?

Secretary (East): The main thrust since the theme is Connectivity, obviously Up Rashtrapatiji would focus on that particular theme. And when we look at connectivity, we look at not just the vast geographical space that connects India as being part of Asia to Europe, but we also look at other aspects of connectivity including digital connectivity, historical and civilisational connectivity, cultural connectivity, people-to-people connectivity. So, I would imagine that Up Rashtrapatiji will focus on all the broad aspects encompassing the theme of connectivity. Of course the current theme that is of huge concern to us as a country and the global community is terrorism. So I would imagine that that would definitely come up for discussion.

Question: Madam, since this is focused on connectivity, I would like to ask what would be India’s stand if China pushes for Maritime Silk Route and the Silk Route?

Secretary (East): We are open for discussions in all kinds of connectivity including physical connectivity. We ourselves are very actively engaged in connecting ourselves to our immediate neighbourhood and as part of our Act East Policy as well we have a very active engagement in terms of physical connectivity. So, we would be very happy to discuss issues that assist in promoting our own desire to connect with Asia and Europe.

Question: My question is regarding defence cooperation with Mongolia. There have been reports that Mongolia was seeking India’s help in getting its MiG-21s fleet airborne, and they were seeking some spare parts and help with its overhauling and stuff. Do you think that India would be in that capacity, or is India going to help Mongolia in one way or the other in building up its capability?

Secretary (East): India is a strategic partner of Mongolia and we are open to all kinds of discussions. Defence and security is a very important component of our ongoing discussions with Mongolia. We have in fact traditionally been providing capacity building assistance to Mongolia. We would be discussing all this under the ambit of our normal ongoing security and defence dialogue with Mongolia. Nothing concrete that I can share with you today.

Official Spokesperson: I think we have no other questions on ASEM. So, that concludes the press conference.

Thank you.
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