Work in tandem with other depts,FS tells MEA officials

Sujatha Singh has stressed on the need for the Ministry of External Affairs to coordinate with other arms of the government.

In her first communication to the Indian Foreign Service after taking charge as the Foreign Secretary,Sujatha Singh has stressed on the need for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to coordinate with other arms of the government as it promotes Indias interests abroad in diverse fields.

The country expects nothing but the best from MEA. We must strive to meet this expectation and continuously challenge ourselves in seizing the opportunities before us and shaping them in the directions we wish to see them proceed, Singh said in her two-page letter sent on August 7,which was accessed by The Indian Express.

There has been a growing realisation within South Block in the last few years about foreign policy-making in tandem with other ministries and stakeholders,and the new Foreign Secretary has clearly marked this as a focus area in her missive to all Indian ambassadors and heads of divisions in the MEA. Singh,who took charge on August 1,said,Indias foreign policy is,ultimately,the sum total of what every arm of Government of India does vis-à-vis the countries we interact with,particularly in the immediate neighbourhood.

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As our foreign policy establishment grows larger and aspects of our work become more specialised,we need to work on further streamlining the processes of coordinating with other ministries and organisations as members of the same team, she said.

She said this is critical in dealing with a world which is changing by the day,a world in which MEA works with multiple stakeholders in promoting Indias interests abroad in diverse fields – from political issues to trade and economy,development projects,energy security,counter-terrorism,the rights of women and children,climate change,the post-2015 development agenda,cyber security and many others.

I see MEA as being in the forefront of change; however,we also need to encourage the participation of key constituencies in India in the ongoing debate on various aspects of our foreign policy,the realities in which it is rooted and the role that stakeholders across the country play in shaping it. MEA,with its global reach and outlook is indeed in a unique position to convert this challenge into an opportunity to shape the discourse, she wrote in the letter.

She started the missive by acknowledging,that in many ways the world that existed when she joined the IFS nearly four decades ago in 1976 no longer exists. There are new paradigms and new realities that have transformed both the world we live in and the nation we serve,and their consequences are still unfolding.

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We belong today to an India that has emerged as a player of significant consequence on the world stage,with the political as well as economic strength to make a difference. However,even as this process takes place,many of Indias own perceptions,both of itself and of the world,have not caught up with the changing realities, she said.