Published by the Press, Information & Culture Wing, Embassy of India

In this Issue
(January 16-31 1999)

South Asia Region

India's Foreign Relations

Economy & Trade

Upcoming Events

Opinion

Feature: Christianity in India

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(Prime Minister Vajpayee and President K.R. Narayanan
with the Chief Guest at the Republic Day Parade, King Birendra of Nepal)

The President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan yesterday hosted a reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, on the occasion of Republic Day. The Chief Guest at the Republic Day Parade, King Birendra of Nepal, along with Queen Aishwarya attended the reception held at the sprawling Mughal Gardens. The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, former President Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, former Prime Ministers, Mr. I.K. Gujral and Mr. Chandrashekhar and the Congress President, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi were among those present at the reception.  Several Union Ministers, the Delhi Chief Minister, Members of Parliament, Diplomats and top officials also attended the function.

January 27, 1999
Indo-Bangladesh bilateral issues are to come up for discussion during a meeting between the External Affairs Minister Mr. Jaswant Singh and the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Calcutta. Mrs. Hasina is arriving along with a 30 member delegation including the Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdul Samad Azad. The leaders of both the countries are likely to take a final decision on the cross country bus service linking Dhaka and Calcutta. Sheikh Hasina will also be present at the inauguration of the Calcutta Book Fair. 

Discussions on Technical, Financial and Legal issues for transfer of power from Pakistan to India are to be held in New Delhi on January 20, 1999. A Pakistani delegation led by their Secretary in the Ministry for Water and Power, Mr. Syed Shahid Hussain will be arriving in New Delhi tomorrow. This will be the second round of discussions between the two countries on the issue. The first round was held in November last year at Islamabad. A broad agreement was reached then to transfer up to 500 Mega Watts of Power from Pakistan to India in the short run and about 2000 Mega Watts in future.