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The first meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Group (IMCG) was convened by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Tuesday to take forward India&rsquo;s &lsquo;Neighbourhood First&rsquo; policy in line with vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.</p>
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Secretaries of various ministries such Home, Commerce, Finance, Fisheries, Railways, Agriculture and Defence participated in the meeting to ensure better coordination in improving ties with the neighbouring countries.&nbsp;</p>
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&ldquo;The IMCG provided a comprehensive direction with a whole-of-government approach to promote better connectivity, stronger interlinkages and greater people-to-people connect with our neighbours,&rdquo; MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.</p>
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&ldquo;The meeting deliberated upon and took important decisions on various aspects of India&rsquo;s bilateral relationship with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the areas of trade and investment, connectivity, border infrastructure, immigration, development cooperation and border security,&rdquo; the MEA statement said.</p>
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The meeting also comes in the backdrop of economic crises in Sri Lanka and Nepal and the need to ensure quick decision making to help the neighbouring countries.</p>
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The IMCG will further improve institutional coordination across government and provide comprehensive direction to this whole-of-government approach on India&rsquo;s relations with its neighbouring countries, the statement added.&nbsp;</p>
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