(a) whether the Government participated in recently concluded Inter-Governmental Conference on democracy at Warsaw;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the contributions made by the Indian delegates in the Conference?
(a) whether the Government participated in recently concluded Inter-Governmental Conference on democracy at Warsaw;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the contributions made by the Indian delegates in the Conference?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI AJIT KUMAR PANJA)
(a) Yes, Sir.
(b) India participated in the Ministerial Conference on the Community of Democracies held in Warsaw on June 25-27, 2000. India was one of the co-convenors of this Conference, the others being Chile, the Czech Republic, Mali, Republic of Korea, Poland, Portugal and the United States. 70 out of the 107 participating countries were represented at the Ministerial level. The Community of Democracies seeks to forge a consensus among member states committed to democracy on ways of enhancing international co-operation to support and strengthen democracy. The participating countries at the Warsaw Conference adopted a Declaration affirming their shared commitment to a set of universally-applicable core democratic principles.
(c) The External Affairs Minister led the Indian delegation. At the invitation of the Foreign Minister of Poland, the External Affairs Minister chaired one of the four Ministerial Panels, on `Sharing best practices`. India played a significant role in finalising the Declaration and the final communiqué of the Conference. The Declaration rejects ethnic and religious hatred, violence; and extremism; it also lists state sponsored, cross-border and other forms of terrorism amongst transnational challenges to democracy.