Officer trainees of IFS call on President Mukherjee

A group of 36 officer trainees of the 2012 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) called on President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Addressing to the officer trainees yesterday, the President said that as representatives of the world's largest democracy that has recently carried out the exercise of franchise by the greatest number of voters in human history, they are representing India at a very interesting juncture in the Indian political context.

He further said that today our relations with the entire world's major powers are much deeper and stronger than before.

"We are engaged in establishing strategic partnerships and expanding the scope and depth of our economic and strategic interaction with different countries, groupings and regions. We are being called upon to play a leading role in shaping the emerging world; we should prepare our long term strategies for India as an influential and respected member of the international community," he added.

He said that at that time, their most important asset will be positive attitude and strong commitment to the service that they have opted to join.

The President further said that for India to achieve its full potential as a player on the world stage, we need to do better on the domestic front, both in terms of economic and social indices. This is the challenge before us as a nation.

"As India's representatives abroad they have a role to play in this endeavour by working to expand trade and investment flows to and from India-which will in turn lead to job creation and poverty alleviation; and by bringing back best practices from around the world so that we can improve our systems and the way we do things," he added.

The President called upon the officer trainees to be proactive in their approach, decisive in their responses to situations and innovative and positive in their initiatives.

He said that he expected that they will approach these duties and face challenges with sincerity, dedication and professionalism and that Foreign Service Officers must always remain alert and open to new ideas and innovation, and help build India's closer ties with developed, emerging and developing economies.