NEW DELHI: The visit to India by Assistant Secretary of State, Robin Raphel, who arrived in the capital last week, remains a low-key affair with the US official unlikely to meet any Minister of the Deve Gowda Cabinet. With the United Front government clearly sticking to protocol, Raphel is scheduled to meet only Secretary level officials of the External Affairs, Defense and Finance Minis tries. “We are going strictly by protocol and the US official will meet Indian officials at the apocopate level,” said South Block sources.
Clearly, the foreign policy establishment wants to avoid the media hype that has accompanied Raphel’s visits to this country. So, while Raphel would have consultations with senior Officials, the political leader ship is steering clear. According to South Block watchers this would be a shift from Raphel’s earlier visits which witnessed a buildup in the media and the Rao government itself attaching immense significance to the visit. A spokesman from the US Embassy said Raphel’s current trip was part of her routine visits to the region for which she is responsible in the US State Department.
Raphel’s talks with Foreign Secretary Salman Haidar were described by MEA sources as “businesslike and cordial.” On the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), where India has Finley stood its ground against considerable pressure from Washington, both sides stuck to their positions and agreed to disagree. Apart from predict able issues like the present state of Indo Pak relations, other aspects of bilateral interest, including trade and economic issues were also discussed. The emerging situation in Afghanistan, is also understood to have figured in the talks.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 18, 1996
