India’s entire neighbourhood is a conundrum: EAM Jaishankar

New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) Asserting that India’s entire neighbourhood is a conundrum and building strong relations with neighbouring countries will always remain “work in progress”, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on Friday said the government’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy is built to protect ties amidst frequent changes, disruptive or organic.

“With Bangladesh, since its independence, our relationship has gone up and down. It is natural that we will deal with the government of the day. But, we also have to recognise that there are political changes, and they can be disruptive. Clearly here, we will have to look for mutuality of interest,” the EAM said during a book launch event in the national capital.

With regard to India’s relationship with Sri Lanka, Jaishankar admitted that the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had somewhat “difficult inheritance”.

“At this time, there are two problems. One in the public realm, which pertains to the