India made progress in many directions in the relationship with the Soviet Union, especially in the continued Soviet acceptance of the philosophy and practice of non-alignment. My meetings with the senior Soviet leaders and more frequently with Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko in New York during the United Nations sessions were consistently fruitful. India's dialogue with the Soviet Union on political, economic and other matters had hardly a pause or diversion.
We did not deviate from our avowed path of peace and friendship with close neighbours in spite of untoward incidents or provocations which occurred not very far from our borders. I have in mind the tragic end of the late President Mujibur Rehman and his family in Bangladesh in August, 1975 and the hijacking of an Indian civil aircraft to Pakistan in September, 1976.
India's response to these events was cool and mature. Our policy was to recognise political realities and we accepted the emergence of a new government in Bangladesh. Our friendship and co-operation with the Bangladesh people were also not allowed to be affected -by our sorrow over the adoption of violent means to bring about a change of government in that country.
The hijacking of an Indian plane to Pakistan and other unseemly repercussions too were taken by us in our stride, and we saw to it that our relations with Pakistan did not turn sour as a result of such occurrences. We gave our support to a proposal of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany in the U.N. General Assembly in 1976 to evolve a common approach to meet such acts of terrorism in the air against innocent people. Farther away from our frontiers, we enlarged the circle of friendship and brought about a distinctly better understanding with Turkey and Romania, both of which had, for reasons of their own, been somewhat aloof from us.
To sum up, among the significant achievements of Indian diplomacy during my tenure of office was the initiation of the processes of normalisation of relations with China and better understanding on the basis of reciprocity with Pakistan. In bilateral relations with Pakistan and China, in spite of the many hurdles and irritants which hampered progress, we made a new beginning. With Pakistan, the new relationship was in the field of economic co-operation, trade and travel facilities. With China it was in the establishment of full diplomatic relations. These developments by themselves, initiated or supported by the former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, were no mean achievements in the context of the past history of the relationships and the postures of the countries.
