Vajpayee heads to S'pore, Cambodia to boost ties

Vajpayee heads to S'pore, Cambodia to boost ties

Agence France-Presse, New Delhi

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee left on Sunday for Singapore
and Cambodia in a trip seen here as a landmark move to bolster
India's warming ties with the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) grouping.

Senior Indian officials said Vajpayee will hold "substantial
talks" with leaders of the two nations during his five-day trip.

They said discussions will also focus on ways to broadbase
ties in sectors such as tourism, aviation and telecommunications.

"India is looking forward to enhancing its level of dialog
with ASEAN and establishing a credible and respectable engagement
with its members as part of its 'look-east' policy," a foreign
ministry official said.

India in 1996 became a full dialog partner of ASEAN, which
groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Vajpayee was accompanied by a delegation comprising captains
of Indian industry and others, the officials said.

The Indian leader, who canceled a trip to Singapore last
October because of tensions with arch-rival Pakistan, will meet
Singaporean President S. R. Nathan and Prime Minister Goh Chok
Tong for talks on a comprehensive package to boost investments in
India.

New Delhi, besides seeking better business ties with Singapore
and ASEAN, is also hoping to garner greater support from the 10-
nation regional club for its campaign against cross-border Muslim
militancy from its nuclear foe, Pakistan.

On the eve of Vajpayee's two-nation tour his cabinet on late
Saturday reviewed the situation on India's militarized borders
with Pakistan.

The two South Asian adversaries, who have fought three wars
since 1947, have deployed thousands of troops along their borders
since an attack in December on the parliament in New Delhi, which
India blames on two Pakistan-based Islamic guerrilla
organizations.