Naidu meets Lithuanian President, briefs him on decisions related to J-K

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who began a three-nation tour to the Baltic region on Saturday, briefed the Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on the recent decisions of the Indian government to abrogate Article 370 and the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir.

During his talks with Nauseda here, Naidu said that re-organisation of Jammu and Kashmir was aimed at reducing regional disparity and improving administrative efficiency and was completely in the purview of the Central government.

He said that with the repeal of Article 370, more than 100 progressive legislations have now become applicable to the two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh including reservation of seats for women in local self-governments.

"We expect to understand from our international partners that this decision concerns our national progress and prosperity. It has equity and inclusion as the main objective," he said.

The two leaders agreed on the need for the UN to demonstrate a collective political will for early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, which was proposed by India many years ago.

They had extensive discussions on important aspects of bilateral relationship as well as global and regional issues of common interest and renewed their commitment to further build on the friendly ties between the two countries.

Naidu said that terrorism was one of the major challenges confronting the world and urged all the countries to intensify their collective efforts to eliminate the menace and also isolate nations which aid and abet terrorism.

The Vice President was presented a copy of the 'History of Lithuania' in Hindi.

He expressed his appreciation for the publication -- Comparative Dictionary of 108 Common Lithuanian and Sanskrit words.

"'We may now endeavour to compile and publish the comprehensive dictionary of 10,000 common words in our languages," he said.

Naidu said that both the countries have civilizational links that go back centuries. "Lithuanian is the oldest Indo-European language and it has strong links with Sanskrit," he said.

He said that Article 370, which gave special powers to Jammu and Kashmir, had enabled vested interests to "create a climate of separatism and establish linkages with terrorist groups" and this atmosphere encouraged cross-border terrorism.

Naidu said though large resources were given to the state by the Union Government, the pace of development was not commensurate.

The two leaders discussed the need for early and comprehensive reform of the United Nation's Security Council to make it more representative to reflect the realities of today and address current global challenges.

They agreed to strengthen the existing cooperation between the two countries at the United Nations and other multilateral fora.

Both the dignitaries also discussed the scope for expansion of commercial and economic ties.

Naidu said that India was now among the fastest-growing major economies in the world and wanted Lithuanian businesses to take advantage of the opportunities available.

The two leaders witnessed the signing of agreements on agriculture and allied sectors and cultural exchange programme from 2019-21.

The Vice President will also visit Latvia and Estonia during his three-nation visit.