156
B I L AT E R A L D I P L O M A C Y
N E W A P P ROAC H E S
A new mechanism that has become popular is ‘strategic consultation’. Invariably it is established between countries that are seeking to make an indirect assertion to the effect that their affinities have increased. In practice it means that officials of the MFA, the defense ministries and other agencies concerned with the political and security environment meet annually (or as mutually determined) for an exchange of views, and a tour d’ horizon. For instance, in 2000 the first such meeting was held between Indian and Chinese officials, marking a further improvement in bilateral ties. A different example is provided by an India–EU ‘round table for civil society’, backed and funded officially, and involving participants drawn from NGOs, development oriented volunteer groups and the like. There are substantive issues of health, education, the environment and other development imperatives where there are sharp divergences, often within the developing countries themselves. For instance, the Indian opponents of big dams are confronted by others Indians, who insist that building such dams is the lesser evil to abandoning development in the name of environment protection. It is not clear if bilateral dialogue, supported by state entities, produces real understanding. Quakers), think tanks like the Aspen Institute, and special theme groups like the Pugwash Conference that has focused on nuclear disarmament. At a time when relations across the East–West divide were frozen, such private initiatives, almost always with the tacit or explicit support of some of the governments, kept contacts alive and served to transmit ideas and messages. Their contribution to the evolution of events, including the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War, remains to be fully assessed. In Latin America the role of private groups in the settlement of civil conflicts has also been crucial.
09-Joint Commissions.pm6
156
1/15/02, 9:04 PM