Dialogue better option in improving ties: Salman Khurshid

DEHRADUN: Terming dialogue as a better option in improving ties with neighbouring countries, External Affairs Minister SalmanKhurshid today said India believes in strengthening relations with its neighbours through talks.

"War is no solution. Persistent dialogue is definitely a better alternative through which we are trying to normalise ties with our neighbours," the minister told a workshop on "Public Diplomacy Initiative" at the Doon University here.

Noting that India occupies the foremost position among developing countries, the minister said "we should not just be looked upon as a developing nation because we can equal many developed countries in various fields."

He said India's owes its pre-eminent position among the developing countries to its foreign policy founded by former Prime Ministers Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.

Khurshid said they displayed great foresight while framing the country's foreign policy.

In the post-globalisation era the world has been in a state of constant flux and all the changes which are to take place in the years to come were foreseen by the country's founding-fathers who framed a foreign policy bearing all that in mind, he said.

"It is because of a foreign policy like this that we enjoy better ties with our neighbours than many other nations of the world," he said.