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Delhi Statement on Friendship and Cooperation between India and Israel September 10, 2003 Joint statement issued on conclusion of visit to India by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 1. At the invitation of the Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, paid a State visit to India from September 8-10 2003, the first-ever by an Israeli Prime Minister. 2. Prime Minister Sharon was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, Yosef Lapid, Minister of Culture, Education and Sport, Limor Livnat (-together with a cultural delegation) and Minister of Agriculture, Israel Katz. The...

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Yosef Lapid showing a sword presented by All India Anti-Terror Front chairman Ms. Bitta at a function in New Delhi on Tuesday, September 9, 2003 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (L) talks to President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam during a meeting at Rashtrapati Bhavan (The Presidential Palace) in New Delhi on September 9, 2003. Sharon kicked off his visit to India, the first by an Israeli leader, on Tuesday promising to build closer ties, a move that has raised concerns in neighbouring Pakistan. SnipSharon, who arrived Monday night, visited Rajghat, the tranquil memorial to the father...

Regardless of any comment on the reasons for electing the Indian nuclear scientist Avul Pakir Jainulabuddin Abdul Abdul Kalam as the successor to President K.R. Narayanan, the event confirms a number of things. First, India is still a democratic secular state in which any citizen, irrespective of his ethnic, religious or class background, can reach the highest levels of authority if he (or she) works hard, perseveres, involves in the existing institutional structures, and puts his country's interests above the interests of his own class, religion and ethnicity. That is how we can interpret the arrival of former President Narayanan,...