Natwar meets Megawati, talks terror with EU team

Singh called on Megawati, along with foreign ministers of other ASEAN dialogue partners, at the presidential palace.

Singh also held separate meetings with his counterparts from Russia, Sergei Lavrov, New Zealand, Phillip Goff, and Canada, Bill Graham, focusing on bilateral ties as well as international issues.

Singh also met Chris Patten, the European Commissioner for External Relations, and Javier Solana, high representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and discussed India-EU relations, as also international issues like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Singh is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri here on Friday. Pakistan will be joining the 23-member ARF, the Asia Pacific’s only security forum, tomorrow following its assurance that it would not raise Kashmir at the group’s meetings. — (PTI)

‘India ready to protect Strait of Malacca’

JAKARTA: INDIA has said that it is ready to provide security in the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes and a victim of rising incidents of piracy.

External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, who is here to attend the Asean Regional Forum meeting, was reacting to a request made by the three littoral states — Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Singh said it was in India’s interest to ensure the strait remained a crime-free sea lane. ‘‘From our side it is affirmative…Details can be worked out but in principal ‘yes’,’’ Singh told Jakarta Post.

Malaysia and Indonesia have already rejected a US proposal to conduct joint patrols in the strait. —(PTI)