M A I N   N E W S

India moots ‘rainbow coalition’ to take on G-8
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 17
After proving its burgeoning diplomatic strength at Cancun, the rejuvenated Indian diplomacy is now aiming higher: evolving a tri-continental “rainbow coalition” for the sake of the developing world.

There are indications here that the recently launched India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum is going to make itself known by the acronym of G-3, will take on the mantle of the Third-World leadership as against the pro-rich bloc, the G-8.

It is understood that the IBSA countries, which are big and influential democracies spread across three continents, are also going to back each other’s claim for membership of an expanded United Nations Security Council. This forum is all set to take wings in the coming days as India engages key nations in the world in a big way at the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.

Besides giving a concrete shape and tasks to the IBSA Dialogue Forum, the Indian leadership as well as the diplomatic corps have another significant trilateral meeting on the margins of the UNGA — involving Russia and China.

While the trilateral meeting involving India, Russia and China is at the foreign ministers’ level, like the maiden such trilateral meeting last year, sources said efforts were on to make the India-Brazil-South Africa meeting happen at the highest level.

There are indications that the Foreign Minister-level meeting of India, China and Russia, an annual practice started last year, is likely to become more than just a ritual.

Besides, there will be a novelty during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s foreign tour. For the first time, India will be holding a meeting with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries at the margins of the UNGA.

Though Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal has gone on record saying that there would be no meeting between Mr Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the UNGA, it is understood that External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha will be participating at a meeting of SAARC foreign ministers at a working lunch on September 25.

The sources said there would be no opportunity for Mr Sinha and his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Khurshid Kasuri, to have a bilateral discussion as the working lunch was a multilateral event. An important aspect, it is understood, is that while the WTO talks in Cancun have collapsed, India will hold discussions with other countries regarding the lessons to be learnt from Cancun.