India's relations with the countries of Eastern and Central Europe have been traditionally warm and friendly. There is considerable goodwill for India in these countries at all levels and our ties with them are multi-faceted, encompassing most areas of bilateral cooperation. New commonalties of approach and outlook have emerged.

Based on continuity, trust and confidences relations with the Russian Federation continue to be important foreign policy priority for India. Both countries have emphasized the importance which they attach to bilateral relations and consider them not to be subject to political vicissitudes. With post Cold War transitional difficulties now left well behind. India's relations with Russia are progressing well in almost all areas of bilateral cooperation. There is recognition both in India and Russia of the strategic dimension of Indo-Russian relations. Both countries share similar perceptions on many international issues. Interactions on developments in the region lying between the borders of India and Russia have been found to be beneficial and contacts are being maintained on the evolving situation in Afghanistan.

A major event during 1996-97 was the landmark official visit to the Russian Federation undertaken by the Prime Minister from 24-26 March 1997. The visit provided a new impetus to the traditionally close, friendly and multi-faceted ties between India and Russia. The Minister of External Affairs visited Russia from 9-13 February 1997 to co-chair the Third Session of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation. Besides the Protocol of the Third IGC Session, an Agreement on the Establish-ment of a Joint Shipping Service between India and Russia and a Memorandum of Understanding on Certification in the field of Information Technology were signed during the visit. From the Indian side, the Minister for Human Resource Development represented the Government of India at the inauguration of the "Days of Indian Culture" in Russia. Other visits from India included Speaker of the Lok Sabha (20-26 October 1996), the Home Minister (4-8 November 1996) and Chief Justice of India (15-23 February 1997). There were many high level visits from Russia too. These included visits by Defense Minister (the first visit by the Russian Defense Minister to India from 21-23 October 1996 following the breakup of the Soviet Union), Deputy Prime Ministers Oleg Davydov (26-30 October 1996) and Vladimir Fortov (9-13 November 1996), Minister for Fuel and Energy (6-9 December 1996) and the Chairman of the Central Bank of Russian Federation (10-16 February 1997).

India's relations with other CIS countries Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine as well as the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania continued to develop satisfactorily. An Armenian Parliamentary delegation led by the Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly visited India from 4-7 December 1996.

India's relations with all the countries of Central Europe progressed satisfactorily. There was a particular impetus given to bilateral ties with Poland, the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic as a result of the State visit of the President of India to these countries. These visits were marked by great warmth and goodwill for India at all levels. The leaders of all these countries confirmed the importance and priority they attached to relations with India.

President of India Dr. S D Sharma paid a State visit to Poland from 6-9 October 1996. A Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement, a Cultural Exchange Program and a Protocol on Foreign Office Consultations were signed with Poland during the visit. Chief justice of India (21-28 June 1996) and Minister of State for Coal (12-14 November 1996) visited Poland. The visitors from Poland included Minister for Foreign Economic Relations (9-13 November 1996), First President (Chief justice) of the Supreme Court of Poland (20-26 January 1997) and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (8-12 January 1997).

The President of India paid a State visit to the Slovak Republic on 9 and 10 October 1996. An Agreement on Cooperation in the field of Science and Technology and an Air Services Agreement were signed during the visit. Session of the Indo--Slovak joint Committee was held in New Delhi.

The President of India paid a State visit to the Czech Republic from 10-13 October 1996. A Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement, a Cultural Agreement and a Protocol on Foreign Office Consultations were signed during the visit. In August 1996, the Czech Republic opened an Honorary Consulate in Calcutta. Meeting of the Indo-Czech joint Committee was held on 5 and 6 February 1997.

The Home Minister visited Bulgaria from 31 October-4 November 1996 and had several meetings with high level Bulgarian dignitaries. The Bulgarian Minister for Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation visited India from 2-6 December 1996 to co-chair Eleventh Session of the Indo-Bulgarian Joint Commission. A Hungarian Parliamentary delegation visited India from 20-27 January 1997 and the Chairman of the Hungarian Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Minorities and Religious Affairs visited India in the first half of February 1997. A meeting of the Indo-Romanian joint Commission was held in New Delhi on 10 and 11 February 1997.

The Minister of Trade of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia visited India in December 1996. This was the first such visit after UN sanctions against FRY were lifted on 1 October 1996. A Protocol on Foreign Office Consultations was concluded with Slovenia. State Secretary in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Slovenia visited India from 15-17 December 1996 and signed an Agreement on Cultural Cooperation. Assistant Foreign Minister of Croatia visited India from 14-16 September 1996 for bilateral political consultations.