India’s new prime minister Narendra Modi began his first day in the office by meeting leaders of South Asian countries, including that of Pakistan – an imaginative and bold initiative that has pitched South Asia in the centrestage of the country’s foreign policy in the years ahead.
A day after he was sworn in as the 15th prime minister of India, Modi held back-to-back meetings May 27 with the leaders of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,the Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal and conveyed India’s desire and strategic intent to transform relations with its immediate neighbours.
The leaders of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) attended the glittering oath-taking ceremony of India’s 15th prime minister Narendra Modi at the forecourt of the presidential palace May 26. Modi’s decision to invite South Asian leaders and engage with them immediately after taking charge has sent a clear signal to the region and the world that the new Indian government will be ready to walk the extra mile to pursue the dream of regional integration and weave a web of win-win opportunities.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s decision to come to India and engage the new leader of the country has kindled possibilities of improved relations between the two prickly nuclear-armed neighbours, whose ties are marred by a history of distrust and territorial disputes.
In interviews to Indian media after arriving in New Delhi, Sharif voiced his desire to turn over “a new leaf” in Pakistan’s relations with India.
In a message before his departure to Delhi May 26, Sharif had said: “Pakistan wants good relations with India and I am going to New Delhi with a message of peace.”
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