"Peace, friendship and cooperation"

India has inherited a welt-tested and consistent foreign policy with a commitment to non-alignment which has our national interest beyond our frontiers. India's policy is to be friends with all countries on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefit for peace and development. In a troubled and tension riddle world, India has a role to play because of its history, its geography and its faith in peaceful co-existence. In trying to live up to our responsibilities, India has followed the basic approach and principles bequeathed
to us by Pandit .Jawaharlal Nehru and lndira Gandhi. Our leaders have pledged to preserve this precious legacy and to work for a uni ted, strong and prosperous India, an India devoted to the cause of freedom, peace and development.
Peace, friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union are an integral part of India's foreign policy. Indian people regard the Soviet people as "trusted people" who have stood by India and its people in times of critical need. India looks forward to a rapid enlargement of this cooperation in stable and long term expansion for the benefit of the entire mankind and fundamentally opposes to all military alliances. For the inauguration of the Festival of India, Rajiv Gandhi's visit to the Soviet Union is another manifestation of the special character of Indo-Soviet relations. The Festival of India in the USSR and the Festival of USSR in India to open in November 1987 are timed to mark major dates - the 40th anniversary of India's independence, and the 70th anniversary
of the great October Socialist Revolution. Both the Festivals are worthy of these events in world history and meet their noble and humanistic
purpose.