Also asks China to respect India, display sensitivity

New Delhi, Jan 18 (DHNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday used a foreign policy speech to ask Pakistan to walk away from terror and join India in the journey to peace.

Modi also called upon China to show sensitivity and respect towards the “core concerns” of India.

“Pakistan must walk away from terror if it wants to walk towards dialogue with India,” Modi said, inaugurating the second Raisina Dialogue – India’s flagship annual geopolitical conference organised by the Ministry of External Affairs in partnership with the Observer Research Foundation.

The prime minister used his inaugural speech to present a mid-term report on his government’s achievements in managing the external relations of India.

He also articulated his vision for India’s engagements with the United States, Russia and Europe and its role in a multipolar world, particularly in Asia.

Modi recalled his talks with US president-elect Donald Trump over phone and said that they had agreed to build on the “speed, substance and strength” that was brought into the “entire spectrum of economic, business, commercial, and security engagement” between India and the US ever since his government took office in New Delhi.

Modi also noted that India’s strategic partnership with Russia, especially in the field of defence, had deepened.

The prime minister outlined his government’s “neighbourhood first” approach and the efforts made by India in the past two-and-a-half years to build “peaceful and harmonious ties” with almost all its neighbours.

Modi recalled his invitation to all the south Asian leaders, including Pakistan Prime Minister M Nawaz Sharif, to his swearing-in ceremony in May 2014, and his “surprise” visit to Lahore to greet Sharif on his birthday.