ROME, June 26 — As anticipated, Pope John Paul II raised the issue of attacks on Christians when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee called on him at the Vatican today.

The Prime Minister went out of his way to allay the apprehensions of the Pope. An official statement issued after the 15-minute forenoon meeting said the government was deeply concerned about the attacks which had taken place on Christians and their institutions. All efforts were being made to prevent these incidents, as also to protect all minority communities and ensure an atmosphere of communal harmony.

The Prime Minister, however, insisted that it was necessary to see the whole issue in its correct perspective in order to appreciate its magnitude and implications. Implicit in this statement is the fact that the Pope’s viewpoint differs widely from that of India.

The Prime Minister was accompanied by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, senior officials and his family members. The Pope and the Prime Minister met for 10 minutes in private.

He explained to the Pope that though crime was the responsibility of the state governments, the Central Government had taken prompt measures to safeguard the interest of the minority communities and instil a sense of confidence among them. “We are firm in our determination to deal with perpetrators of violence and are taking all necessary measure to ensure an atmosphere of communal harmony. The Central Government is in close touch with the state governments for ensuring that all preventive and precautionary measures are taken for the maintenance of peace and communal harmony. The government is resolved that perpetrators of violence should be dealt with firmly and that exemplary punishment should be awarded to them,” an official statement issued after the meeting said.

The discussions with the Pope, which were a last-minute addition to the Prime Minister’s itinerary, overshadowed the other vital meetings that he had today. The first was only a courtesy call on the President, Mr Carlo A. Ciampi, but vital issues like bilateral ties, economic cooperation and peace and security in Asia were discussed. Immediately after that came the discussion with Prime Minister Giuliano Amato which was described as ‘extremely useful’.

The talks revealed a close identity of views on a number of issues of relevance to both countries. Trade and investment formed a major part of this discussion.

According to the National Security Advisor, Mr Brajesh Mishra, who briefed the Press about the talks, the issue of permanent seat of the UN Security Council was not raised. The Afghanistan and Pakistan questions were raised by Italy. So was terrorism.

On the signing of the CTBT, the Italian perspective was no different than those of the rest of Europe and ‘we listened to Italy on disarmament’, according to Mr Brajesh Mishra.

The high point of the trip has been the increase in friendly relations between the two countries, said Mr Mishra. An agreement was signed by Mr Yahswant Sinha and Italian Minister of State for Foreign Trade and Tourism, Mr Mauro Fabris, to promote tourism and to form a joint working group to facilitate better coordination. A statement read by Mr Vajpayee at a joint press conference after the summit meeting said the discussions have allowed us to take stock of the bilateral relationship and consider measures for the further augmentation of mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries.

‘We value the political dialogue which has been maintained over the years between India and Italy and look forward to more frequent interaction at the ministerial and official level talks. I took the opportunity of my talks with Prime Minister Amato to apprise him of the second phase of economic reforms which have been initiated in India. Italy is an important economic partner for us and we look forward to a great flow of foreign direct investment into India. We are particularly impressed by the strength of Italy’s services and industrial sectors and the dynamism of its small and medium enterprises. The possibilities of further cooperation in the IT should also, in our opinion, be explored,’ the Prime Minister said.

He said he was leaving Rome with a deep sense of satisfaction and without any doubt that the relations with Italy would continue to flourish, both in bilateral and the EU context.

Later, addressing the Indo-Italian Business Meeting, Mr Vajpayee recounted the civilisational and historical ties between the two countries and exhorted the distinguished group to increase the current $ 2 billion two-way trade flow to $ 5 billion by 2004 and doubling it there -after over the next five years.

Addressing himself to Italian investors, he said given India’s large pool of skilled manpower as well the burgeoning IT industry, you have a wide choice of both the ‘click’ and ‘brick’ economy in which your strengths can be combined with our attitudinal skills, manpower and a large diversified industrial base’.

This vision statement was welcomed by Mr G.P. Goenka, President, FICCI, who told his Italian counterparts: ‘We have textiles, you have fashions; we have leather and you have the finish, we have the granite, you have the glaze. FICCI is at your service to build relationship between the nation of Michelangelo on the one hand and Ajanta, Ellora and Khajuraho on the other’.

Mr Vajpayee leaves Rome tomorrow for the first-ever India-EU summit in Lisbon on June 28. It will be preceded by an India-EU Business Summit organized by the CII on June 27.

The Indian delegation includes the External Affairs Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Murasoli Maran, and the Minister for Information Technology, Mr Pramod Mahajan.

The EU will be represented by Prime Minister Antonio Guterres of Portugal is his capacity as President of the European Council, Mr Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, and Mr Javier Solana, Secretary General of the Council of the EU and High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. So far, the EU has had such summits only with its major partners like the USA, Russia, China, Japan and Canada. The summit with India has been proposed during the Portugese presidency. It comes after a decade of steadily improving relations and will be held regularly in future.