“Long Live India!”

Although Ukraine and India established official diplomatic relations in 1992, bilateral cooperation between the two countries started already in the Soviet era. A typical story from those times: engineers and planners from Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia laid the groundwork for Indian steel mills. “Rusi Hindi bhai-bhai” (“Russians and Indians are brothers”) was a Khrushchev-era slogan which, in the view of international experts today, was a declaration rather than evidence of productive interstate cooperation. Today, we have figures, not just slogans: according to the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, bilateral trade turnover between India and Ukraine was 802.81 million dollars in January-May 2010, up 33.86 percent on last year. Moreover, Ukraine is one of the places where India marked the 63rd anniversary of its independence on August 15. Kyiv’s Independence Square hosted a Ukrainian-Indian concert, Jai Ho India (Long live India), which Indians, full of traditional tolerance and gratitude, called “a gift to Ukraine on the eve of its 19th birthday.”

Yet beneath the diplomatic praise you can find both problems and prospects in Ukrainian-Indian relations.

Let us begin with the prospects. 

India’s international clout is on the rise, although the independent Republic of India was a fledgling postcolonial country. The country’s current position is the result of the work of wise leaders and the implementation of a right strategy — exactly what Ukraine, also a postcolonial country (albeit with a three times shorter period of independence), badly needs today. 

K. P. M. Raman, First Secretary at the Indian Embassy in Kyiv, says that India fought against colonialism before gaining independence and against such social evils as poverty, famine and illiteracy thereafter.  

“It was very difficult immediately after we gained independence,” Mr. Raman says, “but we did the job because we had a definite strategy and knew how to put it into practice, we had leaders, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, who set right guidelines for the nation.

They carried out a number of important reforms, including some in the agro-industrial sector. We began to attach great importance to education, professional training, and public health care. We have thus reared a new, healthy generation, which has received a high-level education. India is now one of the world’s leading nations. It is very important for a postcolonial country to have worthy leaders, people with strong qualifications, who will spearhead the nation towards development.”

Incidentally, according to Borys Bondarenko, full member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, chairman of the Academy’s Commission for Cooperation between Ukraine and India in Science and Technology, and frequent visitor to India, that country has weekends talk shows which involve young people and Abdul Kalam, former president, prominent academic, and a respected figure. Incidentally, the Indian media embarked on the course of cultivating intellect and knowledge long ago.  

“I once happened to attend a public debate in India on the priority vectors of development. I can remember that they focused on the role of media in society. Their mission is to propagate the cult of knowledge,” says Natalia SEMENIUK, vice-president of the Ukraine-India society. “If we propagate the cult of knowledge, they said, one will feel proud for their independent state.”  

Indians did not go westward or eastward: they preferred working on themselves, on self-development.

India is now beginning to play its due role in the world. First of all, this applies to culture. In particular, the world-famous Indian cultural center Bhavan will also open in Ukraine in the nearest future (before 2011). It will comprise a library, a music society, and cinema halls. Does it not go without saying that it would also be a good idea for Ukraine to open similar institutions in India and elsewhere?  

As usual, Ukrainian-Indian relations are plagued with the problem of visa requirements. While the Ukrainians have no problems with Indian visas, Indian citizens find it very difficult to get, say, a Ukrainian business visa and there are no tourist visas.  

Moreover, Ukraine-India relations depend to quite a large extent on the Russian factor, Bondarenko admits. “Undoubtedly, the Russian factor produces a very profound and, frankly speaking, not very positive effect. But I think the situation may improve,” Bondarenko believes. “Naturally, it would be better if our foreign policy opted for India, rather than China, which is more distant to us culturally. We could launch a lot of joint projects. We have common interests. Clearly, nobody will conclude any Soviet-era-style friendship treaties nowadays (which was basically a military pact), for a model of relations can only be based on equality. At the same time, India is a grateful country. If you treat it with respect, it will surely respond in kind. For example, some of the foreign ministry officials might have visited today’s event [the press conference on the celebration of India’s Independence Day in Ukraine. – Ed.] because they deal with visa problems. Unfortunately, nobody came. Incidentally, when Abdul Kalam was visiting India, he was not received at a proper level either. In general, Ukraine’s cooperation with oriental countries often baffles me. I still cannot understand how it could happen that when Viktor Yushchenko went to Japan, he only visited an apiary. So if Viktor Yanukovych intends to develop cooperation with India, he ought to begin with this event which celebrates the independence of the Republic of India.”