On the visit to India of President of the Government of Spain and Foreign Minister of Argentina, visit of Foreign Secretary to Sri Lanka and response to questions on Indian fishermen in Pakistan and sale of F-16s by US to Pakistan

Official Spokesperson: Good evening. You already have the press release on the visit of the President of the Government of Spain, Mr. Zapatero. The discussions with the Prime Minister will be held later this evening. The press release gives you the details of the agreements that will be up for signatures.

Besides the details given in the press release, I can tell you in the context of the meetings that have already been held, like the call by Minister of State for External Affairs, Shri Anand Sharma, that essentially the focus of the visit and the framework of the discussions has been on bilateral economic relations, between two very rapidly growing economies. Spain is today the fifth largest economy in the European Union and its rate of growth is amongst the highest. Every two of the five jobs that are being created within the European Union are being created in Spain. So, in this context and keeping in view India’s economic development, Spain has formulated a Plan India, and the Plan India essentially focuses on certain areas of cooperation. These are: increase in trade in certain products, cooperation in energy, particularly in wind energy - where Spain and India are respectively the third and the fourth largest producers in the world, infrastructure, food processing and environment.

There are sixty businessmen accompanying him (Mr. Zapatero) and they are essentially looking for cooperation in these areas. Also, in tourism, Spain is a success story. The number of tourists that they get is more than their entire population. After France, Spain is the most successful tourist destination in Europe. They are also interested in intensifying defence cooperation with India.

So, this gives you a flavour of the visit and the framework in which discussions are being held.

Also beginning today is the visit of the Foreign Minister of Argentina. We have issued a press release in this regard which is available on our website.

Foreign Secretary Shri Shyam Saran is on a visit to Colombo at the invitation of his counterpart, the Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary. This visit is part of a regular, high-level exchange of views that has been agreed upon between the leaders of the two countries. The discussions in Colombo will include a review of the wide-ranging bilateral cooperation that has emerged between the two countries, the regional and the international situation, as also the current status of the Sri Lankan peace process.

Foreign Secretary called on H.E. President Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning, at which the efforts being made to evolve a political consensus in Sri Lanka to promote a peaceful settlement of the ethnic problem was discussed. Foreign Secretary reiterated India's willingness to share its constitutional experience with Sri Lanka in this regard.

Question: What sort of defence cooperation are they (Spain) looking for?
Official Spokesperson: I do not have specifics about the defence cooperation but there is an interest in working together.

Question:How long is Foreign Secretary’s visit?
Official Spokesperson: He is already there today. He comes back tomorrow.

Question: Is it a scheduled visit or is it something that came up suddenly?
Official Spokesperson: Well, these are visits which are a part of the regular high-level exchanges.

Question:What can we share with the Sri Lankans in terms of our constitutional experience?
Official Spokesperson: The constitutional experience of India as a federal polity is obvious and that is naturally the experience which we can share in the context of what is happening in Sri Lanka.

Question: Has there been any reaction to the sale of F-16s by US to Pakistan?
Official Spokesperson: We have seen reports on this issue that the US is planning to supply Pakistan 18 new and 26 used F-16 aircrafts. This has been the subject of discussion with the US Government in the past. In fact, the Prime Minister himself has expressed disappointment at the US approach to President Bush. We can reiterate our position that this step is not conducive to improving ties between India and Pakistan.

Question: On the release of Indian fishermen, Pakistan is now saying that they have not completed their sentences. What is our position?
Official Spokesperson: We are looking at this. What I can tell you is that there are no Pakistani fishermen in India whose nationality has been confirmed, who have not been released. So, once nationality has been confirmed no Pakistani fishermen in India has been held back for any other reason.

Question: You see this decision of Pakistan that they should serve their sentences for trawling in Pakistani waters as cussedness on the part of Pakistan?
Official Spokesperson: I do not want to classify anything in the terms that you have the freedom to. We have given a formal statement, which expresses our disappointment that 240 Indian fishermen were not released. I have also told you that no Pakistani fishermen have been held back on this account in India.

Question: The Pakistani spokesperson has said that there are 193 Pakistani prisoners in India. Is that correct?
Official Spokesperson: I gave you these figures last week. The figures that I have are that there are 30 Pakistani fishermen in India, we released 38 civilian prisoners and the remaining are the ones who have been identified as Pakistani nationals but have not completed their sentences. Last week we had given the figures of the total number under different categories.

Question: Do we accept that the fishermen have to serve sentences?
Official Spokesperson: I have just answered that question that we have not held back any fishermen once the nationality has been confirmed. We also expressed our disappointment.

Question: But they had already agreed to the release of the fishermen?
Official Spokesperson: That is what I said. Let me reiterate our statement of June 30: “Pakistan released only 19 Indian civilian prisoners today. No Indian fisherman was released today even though India has confirmed the national status of 240 fishermen. We are disappointed to note that the 240 fishermen whose national status has already been confirmed were not released today despite the understanding between the Home Secretary of India and the Interior Secretary of Pakistan. We have been informed by Pakistan authorities that 20 fishermen were to reach Wagah today but were delayed due to a breakdown of their vehicle. While we await their return, we would like to reiterate that all 240 Indian fishermen should be released in accordance with the understanding of 31 May 2006.” I think that is a very explicit reaction.

Thank you.