The Hindu : India, Germany share views on Iraq

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 04, 2003

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National

India, Germany share views on Iraq

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

The President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, looks on as the Prime Minister, A. B. Vajpayee, welcomes the German President, Johannes Rau, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Monday — Photo: V. Sudershan

NEW DELHI MARCH 3. The German President, Johannes Rau, held talks with the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, on the first day of his official visit.

Briefing presspersons, the Foreign Office spokesman said there was an "exchange of views'' between Dr. Rau and Mr. Vajpayee on the entire gamut of bilateral relations.

Earlier, addressing a lunch meeting organised by the FICCI and the CII, Dr. Rau said that everyone was watching the situation in Iraq with concern. ``India and Germany share the view that everything must be tried to fully implement the relevant (U.N.) Security Council resolutions using peaceful, political means. Only in this way can the economic and political stability of the region be maintained,'' he said.

There was a difference of opinion on the best means of preserving peace and stability, but not on the objective. "The point is sometimes lost in the heat of the debate. It is the aim of us all to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and to make Iraq comply strictly with the terms of (Security Council) Resolution 1441.''

Preserving peace in one's own country was often less difficult than ensuring that states remained at peace with each other. ``With the end of the East-West conflict, we had all hoped that the use of force and war would disappear from the arsenal of politics. This hope has unfortunately not been realised,'' Dr. Rau maintained.

Germany would be delighted if more Indian software experts came to his country. Sadly, the United States seemed to be the more attractive destination, Dr. Rau said.

He said that scientific cooperation between India and Germany was exemplary.

"There are more than 40 cooperation projects between German and Indian higher education institutions and some 1,500 Indo-German scientific publications....''

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