UK wants to elevate its relationship with India: Hague

London, Jun 27 (PTI) Signalling a major change in
Britain's foreign policy, British Foreign Secretary William
Hague Sunday said UK wants to elevate its relationship with
India and many ministers will be visiting the country to
achieve this objective.
Unveiling "the distinctive British Foreign Policy",
Hague told The Sunday Telegraph, "Britain must forge a
distinctive new global identity which focuses as much on
emerging nations such as India, Brazil, Chile and the Gulf
states."
About forging special relationship with the emerging
economic powerhouse like India, Hague said: "We're getting on
with that straight away. Many ministers will be visiting India
in the coming months to strongly signal to India that we want
to elevate that entire relationship.
"This is the exciting part of foreign policy - this is
why I say it is very important to look at the opportunities as
well as the threats.
Over the past decades, Hague believes British foreign
policy has effectively frozen into three main 'blocs' – the
US, the European Union and the Middle East.
"Napoleon's maximum was that the side that stays
within its fortifications is beaten - and in foreign policy,
and in ensuring our future security, the country that is just
reactive is in decline. So we are embarking on a major new
phase, more systematically and strategically than has been
done in this country for a very long time," he said.
"That is what I call a distinctive British foreign
policy. We need a Foreign Office that has the confidence in
itself and the rest of the government to lead that process.
The Prime Minister and I are determined to put right the
problem of recent years that the Foreign Office has often not
been able to play that role in foreign policy," he added.
Like the previous Labour Government, the new coalition
government is also keen to build a special relationship with
India.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, who heads the
Conservative-Liberal Democrats coalition government, would
visit India in July, official sources said Sunday. PTI HSR
RDM



The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this
message are intended for the exclusive
use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged
information. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please
notify the sender immediately and destroy
all copies of this message and any attachments contained in it.


Delete & Prev | Delete & Next