Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar: Namaskar, good afternoon and welcome to this weekly media briefing. My briefing will be followed by a special briefing on Prime Minister’s visit to Republic of Korea and that
briefing will be done by Secretary (East).
Before we get into the question and answer round I have two announcements to make. The first is on the incoming visit of the President of Argentina to India and the second is on the visit of External Affairs Minister to Bulgaria, Morocco and Spain. Both these
visits are taking place in February.
Argentinian President Mr. Macri will be on a state visit to India from February 17 to 19 at the invitation of the Prime Minister. The main day of the official engagement is in New Delhi on 18th. On 17th February President Macri will visit Agra and on 19th he
will be in Mumbai.
The visit is taking place during the 70th year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Argentina and it also closely follows on the successful visit of the Prime Minister to Argentina for the G20 Summit where he had a very productive
meeting with President Macri. We will be putting up a detailed press release on this visit and you can access it from our website.
The other announcement is on the visit by our External Affairs Minister, a four day visit, to Bulgaria, Morocco and Spain from February 16 to 19. The first stop will be Bulgaria on 16 and 17 February. This visit is a follow up to the state visit of President
to Bulgaria in September last year and significantly this is the first ever visit of an Indian External Affairs Minister to Bulgaria. During the visit the EAM will meet her counterpart, the deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Bulgaria.
On the second leg of her tour the EAM will visit Morocco, this is on 17 and 18 February. She will meet her counterpart Mr. Nasser Bourita who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. EAM will also call on His Majesty the King of Morocco
and have other meetings. We expect to sign three MoUs during the visit on counter-terrorism, housing and human settlement and youth matters.
In the last and final leg of the visit EAM will travel to Spain on 18 and 19 February and she is expected to hold bilateral meetings with her counterpart. Something which is to be noted is that during the visit the Spanish Government will also confer upon our
External Affairs Minister the prestigious Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit by the Spanish Government for India’s swift response through Operation Maitri in rescuing 71 Spanish Nationals from Nepal in April 2015 in the wake of the disastrous earthquake.
This also will be put up on our website and you can access it from there.
Now I can move into the question and answer round.
Question: My question is on the situation of Uyghurs Turks in China’s western province. We have seen comments by the Turkish Government also, statement on the situation there. What is the stand of India on the situation?
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar:
We have taken note of reports in this matter. Normally it is not our practice to comment on matters pertaining to internal affairs of another country but I’d say here that on the contrary Pakistan and its leadership, they have this compulsive habit. I would
therefore suggest that you address this question to Pakistan and its leadership as they have been commenting relentlessly on the status of minorities in India and have continuously meddled in the internal affairs of India and other neighboring countries.
Question: US has warned India not to buy oil and gas from Venezuela. Do you have any comment on this?
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar: I think this is in response to a comment which was made by the visiting Venezuela Minister when he was attending the PetroTech which is an international oil and gas conference.
You are aware that the Venezuelan Minister, and Venezuela is the chair of OPEC and also GECF which is Gas Exporting Countries Forum. We do not have any barter system with Venezuela. Commercial considerations and related factors will determine the value of
trade which we have with any country.
Question: Then how does India pay for the oil imports because the US doesn’t allow dollars to be used?
Question: The US and other countries have recognized the opposition leader as the President of Venezuela so what is our position on that?
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar:
I have already given a response on that situation. We have basically said that India and Venezuela enjoy cordial and friendly relations. We are of course monitoring the evolving situation in the country. We are of the view that it is for the people of Venezuela
to find political solution, to resolve the political differences through constructive dialogue and discussion without resorting to violence. We believe democracy, peace and security in Venezuela are of paramount importance for the progress and prosperity of
the people of Venezuela.
I think this is something which we had announced a couple of weeks back.
On the other query, I think frankly for us to respond to a comment which has been made by a Minister at a forum is not appropriate. We have conveyed our position in this matter that we do not have any barter system with Venezuela and also as and a when a decision
to import oil from any country is concerned we will of course take into account the commercial factors in that decision.
Question: International Court of Justice mein Kulbhushan Jadhav ke maamle mein agle hafte ek mahatvapoorn sunvaai honi hai. Bharat kii taraf se paksh kaun rakhega, kaise rakhega aur kya mahatvapoorn mudde hain jinke upar
Bharat apni baat rakhega?
(An important hearing is scheduled next month in the International Court of Justice regarding the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav. Who will present India’s position and in which way and what are the important issues on which India will made its point?)
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar:
The oral proceedings at the International Court of Justice are commencing on the 18th February. India will present its case before the court. Since the matter is sub-judice it is not appropriate for me or for India to state our position in public. We follow
the rules and procedure of the International Court of Justice. We do not feel that this is something which should be, kind of, addressed through the media. Whatever we have to do we will do it at the court.
Question: Kulbhushan Jadhav case mein Bharat ki jo stithi hai wo aapne spasht karne kii koshish kii lekin sawal ye hai ki hamare arguments kya honge aur hamein kya ummeed karni chaahiye is baar ki hone wali sunwaai se?
Doosara sawal hai ki Pakistani jailon mein bahut saare Bharatiya qaidi hain, unmein se takreeban bataya jaa raha hai ki 3 se 4 darzan aise qaidi hain jo maansik roop se vikshipt hain ya bimaar hain, unko consular access kiya gaya aur unmein se ek ne apna naam
Gulojaan aur Mumbai ka niwasi bataya, isko lekar Mumbai police khojane ki koshish bhi kar rahi hai ki unka ghar kahan hai, unke parivar se unko milaya jaaye. Us baare mein koi jankaari ho to batayein.
(You have tried to clear the position of India on the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav but the question is what would be our arguments and what could be our expectations from the hearing this time? Second question is that there are many Indian prisoners in Pakistani
jails and it is being said that around 3 to 4 dozens of prisoners among them are mentally unsound. A consular access was made to them and one of them informed that her name is Gulojaan and she is from Mumbai. Mumbai police is trying to locate the whereabouts
of her native place and trying to see if she can be reunited with her own people, so what is the progress on that?)
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar: Jo aapka pahla sawal hai Kulbhushan Jadhav ke baare mein, jaisa maine abhi kaha ki ye jo mudda hai, ye mudda abhi International Court of Justice ke vicharadheen hai aur Bharat ko nahi lagta ki is maamle par
hamara kya stand hoga, media ke samaksh hum isko prastut karein. Hamara Jo submission hoga wo hum International Court of Justice mein denge. Mere hisaab se media mein share karne laayak abhi situation nahi hai.
Jo aapka doosra sawal hai on the exchange of prisoners languishing in Indian jails. Jo specific aapne poochha iske baare mein to nahi bata sakta lekin aapne 1 January 2019 ki press release shayad dekhi hogi jismein humne jo prisoners hain ek doosare ke deshon
mein uski list exchange ki thii. Uske hisaab se jo humanitarian issues hain aur jin prisoners ko uske tahat address karna thaa, jaise elderly hain, women hain, mentally unsound hain, humne kaha tha ki hum aapko reconstituted Jail Judicial Committee hai, humne
unke saath wo details share kiye they aur ye last year October ki baat hai, if I am not mistaken, aur humne ye bhi kaha thaa ki jo Indian medical experts hain wo Pakistan visit kar sakte hain aur jitne bhi mentally unsound qaidi hain wahan par unke saath milke
Pakistan ko humne kaha tha ki is visit ko, is cheez ko expedite kiya jaye aur abhi tak hamein wahan se ko jawab is humanitarian issue par nahi mila hai.
(On your first question related to Kulbhushan Jadhav, as I informed just now that this matter is sub-judice in the International Court of Justice and we don’t think that India needs to present its stand in the ICJ to the media. We will make our submission in
the International Court of Justice. I don’t think the current situation warrants to make any announcements to the media.
Regarding your second question on exchange of prisoners languishing in Indian jails, the specific question that you asked I don’t have information about that at the moment but you might have seen the list which was issued on January 1, 2019 which contained
the list of the prisoners in each other’s jails. Humanitarian issues according to that list, like those of elderly people, women or mentally unsound persons, which were to be addressed so we had shared the details of those cases with the reconstituted Jail
Judicial Committee. I think this was somewhere last year in October. We had also said that Indian medical experts can visit Pakistan and meet all the mentally unsound prisoners, and we had requested Pakistan to expedite it. Till now we have not received any
response from the Pakistani side on this humanitarian issue.)
Question: Taliban have announced that they are going to Islamabad for a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan on 18th and they also hope to meet Zalmay Khalilzad in Islamabad following which there would be another round
of talks in Doha. It once again seems that the Afghan Government is again totally out of the loop. I was wondering if you would like to comment on that.
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar:
We are not only closely following the developments which are related to the peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan which are underway by different stakeholders but I must add that we are active and in very regular contact with all other stakeholders
including Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia. I am sure that you must have seen the reports of the visit of the Special Envoy Khalilzad to India last month where he had meetings with several people in Delhi.
Actually that provided us a platform to share each other’s perception about the situation in Afghanistan. Now last week our Ambassador in the US again had a meeting with Mr. Khalilzad where he was briefed on the US efforts in the region and we did agree that
we will continue to maintain close contact with each other in this matter.
You are also familiar that at the India-Central Asia Foreign Minister’s Dialogue which also had the participation of Afghanistan, this matter did come up i.e. the issue of Afghanistan figured prominently in the discussions and in the next RIC meeting (Russia
India China Trilateral Foreign Minister’s Meeting) which is scheduled to take place by the end of this month, again this is something which we expect will be discussed at the level of Foreign Ministers. India is and will continue to take all necessary steps
to bring peace and stability in the region.
Question: Is India also taking part in the Warsaw Meet organized by the US?
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar:
Yes, in fact there is a meeting that is taking place on 13 and 14 February, if I am not mistaken. Yes, this is the Ministerial Meeting on the Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw and this is taking place on 13 and 14 February. We are participating
at the level of Secretary.
It is a conference which is being organized at the initiative of US and Poland on the subject of Peace and Security in West Asia. India, as you are all aware, have an abiding interest in the region. The region hosts a 9.2 million strong Indian community and
their well-being is of paramount importance to us. It is also the source of 50% of our oil and 70% of gas needs.
It is also a large trading partner accounting for over $110 billion of India’s trade in 2016-2017. Mutual investment in energy and other sectors is also growing and the emergence of terrorists groups like ISIS poses a common challenge to India and the countries
of the region and it is also very critical region for our maritime security and the security of SLOC (Sea links of communication).
Given our multiple interests it was important for India to be represented at a major meeting on the region and our participation and the level of our representation reflects the nature of our engagement.
Question: The Ministry has announced that Saudi Crown Prince, Mohamed Bin Salman will be coming, obviously this comes after the murder of the Washington Post journalist in the consulate in Turkey. Just wandering whether
India will be raising this issue with the Crown Prince and if, maybe more generally, you can offer a comment on how India tends to balance the relations with visitors like the Crown Prince and also countries like Iran, Venezuela and Russia that western allies
are sometimes uncomfortable with.
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar: You must have seen the press release which we have issued on the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince to India. He will be here on 19 and 20 February. He arrives here on the 19th and departs on 20th February. As
mentioned in the press release he will be calling on the President and the Vice President. He will also have a detailed meeting with Prime Minister.
On the issues which could come up for discussion there are few which are very important. Trade and investment is of course one o them, defence and security including counter-terrorism is another and also renewable energy which is again coming up as an important
area of cooperation between the two countries.
Let me just give you few dimensions of the relationships which perhaps will explain where we are looking at this relationship from. Saudi Arabia is our fourth largest trading partner. Our bilateral trade is worth $28 billion. It is a very important source of
our energy supplies, 20% of our crude is coming from Saudi Arabia. We have an important partnership developing in the field of renewable energy. The welfare of our community in Saudi Arabia, Indian diaspora is 2.7 million strong. So these are all factors which
makes this visit very important. The objective of course is to consolidate the strategic partnership which we have with the country.
On the initial query which you had, we have answered that question earlier, I think somewhere in November and there is nothing which I have to add.
Question: This Tuesday Pakistan released a youngster across the border, a 16 year old was released on humanitarian gesture. The boy was apparently from Assam, so I am trying to understand what was somebody from Assam doing
all the way across the border, how did he get there?
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar:
Do you have the name or anything, please send it to us and we will try to find out but it is very difficult for me to answer sitting what was the boy doing and how and in what circumstances he came back India but I think if you give the details then we might
be able to share that.
Question: What is the latest on this Kartarpur visits, I just wanted clarity on one issue. Pakistan suggested that they will be sending a team and then we will make a return visit but in the statement that we issued, we
said that we can meet later in Pakistan as and when required, so the visit on the 12th seems to be rather confirmed but what about the one on the 28th, is an Indian team going to Pakistan?
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar:
I think it has been overtaken by events. They have proposed a date and we have accepted but just a minor correction to finalize the modalities. The visit is taking place on March 14 now. Subsequent to that, and just to give you about what has happened that
we had suggested a crossing point, we had shared the coordinates of the crossing point from the Pakistan’s side we have received a response where they have suggested an alternate border crossing point. We have also proposed that we will hold technical level
discussions at the level of engineers and this should not be held hostage to the main meeting which will take place on the 14th. We still await response from the Pakistani side on this. We thought that it will be in the interest of earlier establishment of
requisite infrastructure and finalization of the alignment of the corridor.
Question Contd.: What is the reason that they did not agree to the coordinates that we shared?
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar: Look, we proposed a certain coordinate and they have proposed a different coordinate. Now I think when the teams meet then some kind of agreement will take place on that.
Question Contd.: Pakistani team will come on 14th of March?
Official Spokesperson, Shri Raveesh Kumar: Yes, the meeting will take place on 14th so whether they come on the same day or perhaps the previous day but the meeting is going to take place on March 14.
I think all the questions have been exhausted. Thank you so much.
(Concludes)