The Prime Minister today met the probationers of the 2009 batch of the Indian Foreign Service. In his remarks to the probationers, the Prime Minister recalled the vision of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru about an India that was free from poverty and hunger and the role of the civil service in contributing to national goals and meeting societal aspirations.

The Prime Minister observed that in an increasingly inter-depending and uncertain world, the Indian Foreign Service had an important role to play in steering the country towards the path of socio-economic development. The Prime Minister highlighted some of the contemporary issues requiring special focus. These included issues of environmental security, the role of the international trading system and regional trading arrangements in overcoming the limitation of natural resources in the country, the question of international terrorism, national security, which requires particular attention to relations with India's neighbours and extended neighbourhood (South East Asia, Gulf and West Asia, Central Asia, Africa) and the importance of maintaining productive relations with the world's major powers. The Prime Minister noted that foreign policy should enable the release of resources from defence to achieve our development goals.