April 03, 2002
New Delhi

The third meeting of India-US Joint Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations was held in New Delhi on April 3-4, 2002. The US delegation was led by Mr. William Imbrie, Director, Office of the Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Operations, Bureau of International Organisation Affairs, Department of State. The Indian side was led by Mr. BS Prakash, Joint Secretary (UN) in the Ministry of External Affairs.

The two sides deliberated on UN Peacekeeping related issues, including follow-up of the Brahimi Panel recommendations on UN Peace Operations, strengthening cooperation with Troop Contributing Countries, role of civilian police, strategic planning and command and control and UN Standby Arrangements System.

The discussions were held at the Centre for UN Peacekeeping (CUNPK) that India has set up in September 2000. The activities of the Centre which trains Peacekeepers, both from India and abroad, was explained by the Indian side. The US side showed their interest in sending their personnel for training capsules. Exchange of visits at the professional level including for workshops and training capsules in both countries was also agreed upon. Experiences in different UN Peacekeeping Operations such as UNMEE (Ethiopia & Eritrea), UNIFIL (Lebanon) were also discussed.

The meeting was in continuation of the bilateral discussions on the subject held in Washington in June 2001. The interaction provided an opportunity for the two sides to exchange views on broad conceptual and operational aspects of UN Peacekeeping Operations. The two sides agreed to hold the next Joint Working Group in Washington in 2003.