Finance Ministers

"“The latest reports (19.4.47) describe the situation in Dera Ismail Khan Tehsil as still serious. In Tank town, 1,500 refugees have been removed to Police Stations and other places of safety in the town. “Some houses and shops in Tank are still burning and reports have come in of further trouble from the outlying villages of the district. “Cases of forcible conversion are reported from several villages, including Kalagor, Dhalla, Rodi Khel and Mandra. Twenty-four casualties are reported from these villages and a number of persons have been kidnapped..."

"I can naturally not state the positions of Sweden, but according to my understanding our approaches are quite similar."

"On our official visit to Turkey in 2015, together with my spouse, we could at close range follow the aftermath of an attack in Ankara; then we wanted to show our compassion to the loved ones of the victims and to condemn the act."

"Finland condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and works actively to prevent it. Finland’s approach and deeds in fighting terrorism are already now fully aligned with the general line of NATO countries, also regarding the terrorism Turkey is facing. Also in this respect, the conditions of our membership are met."

"The dialogue with Turkey on this situation needs to continue."

"Turkey’s concern over terrorism needs to be taken seriously. A large amount of Turkish people, ordinary citizens, have lost their lives in terrorist attacks."

"In Finland, an amendment of the criminal code came into force this year. It expands and makes stricter the punishable scope of terrorism crimes. I also want to stress that when Finland respects the international human rights principles, and the laws that have been derived from them, it is in no way in contradiction with effective counter-terrorism measures."

"Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay"

"The surprise was that he took it so calmly"

"Do we have to let every tree stay up and rot in the way that all our forests will turn into impassable thickets that are nicely called virgin forests? And just in order to ensure that every furniture beetle and cockroach can live a diverse and happy life. We the Finns are close to nature but why would we conserve so much that we run out of bread?"

"It has been thought, correctly and nicely, that everyone who is in peril will be helped. Practically this is implemented in the way that everyone who can say the word "asylum" is allowed to enter Europe and Finland, that word creates a subjective right to cross the border. Even for no proper reason, one gets a full investigation that lasts years, and if the preconditions for an asylum are not met, one can avoid coercive measures and thus stay in the country which he entered wrongly."

"One may oppose immigration. It is an opinion of one's own. But questioning the dignity of an immigrant is unacceptable. (...) I have not seen that these people [the leaders of the Finns Party] who have been convicted exactly of insulting dignity would have shown efficient regretting."

"The masks have now been taken off, showing only the face of war."

"I suspect that some of you would say ‘A civilized nation is one that has railways, modern industry, organized army, tank, aircraft, etc., and an uncivilized nation is one that does not possess such things.’ Or you would say that a civilized nation is one whose cities ... have wide and paved streets, with multi-storey buildings, and so on.’ Civilized nations, of course, do have such things, but I submit that these are products of civilization, not its essence. The essence of civilization is that people are mature, and the clearest sign of their maturity is that they observe the law."

"The limits set to arbitrary behavior are none other than those defined by law, so everyone will know his own rights and will not go beyond them. It follows that in a country where there is no law, or the law is not observed, the people will not be free and will not enjoy security ... Therefore, the first thing … which I would suggest to you is to note that a free people is one whose affairs are based in law, so that whoever ignores or violates the law is an enemy of freedom ..."

"I hope that you will have learned from the pain and suffering which you have endured in the past few decades, and have realized how to cherish the blessings of liberty. You will therefore know that freedom does not mean that the people should be licentious and behave in an arbitrary fashion, but that it also involves certain limits, since if there are no constraints no one will be free, and the strong will enslave the weak."

"There is no definition of cults in law. on the other hand, these organizations know perfectly evade justice by hiding their true nature, since you are aware that freedom of conscience in France is a fundamental freedom enshrined in all our principles and our texts."

"I say also: watch (…) to any signs that would suggest that there a disempowerment. That those who plunge into Salafism are somehow victims of a great handling as regards sects. No, there is also that part of personal will that you should never rule out."

"Nous avons changé d’époque, la France doit vivre avec le terrorisme, mais nous ne céderons pas à la menace terroriste, nous devons faire bloc, être solidaires. La France a été une nouvelle fois frappée dans sa chair"

"Salafism, which has destroyed and perverted a part of the Muslim world, is a threat for Muslims, and also a danger for France."

"It is a wake-up call for all of us unless we put our house in order. The people of this country are becoming restless."

"The last 60 years have seen collapse of many democracies. For a poor country, it is more difficult to sustain a democracy. From poverty, we have come to being a developing nation. Not only did we survive, we have the distinction of becoming world’s largest democracy."

"So the world needs other engines to carry the growth process. And in a slow down environment in the world, an economy which can grow at 8-9% like India certainly has viable shoulders to provide the support to the global economy"

"If the prime minister was in the know of it, then he is equally culpable. If he was not aware, then it is for him to introspect as to what kind of government he is running."

"When the international prices rise, we expect the government to cut its share of profit and its revenue earnings and share the burden of the increase with the common man."

"He has embarrassed the government. By continuing as minister without portfolio he has earned himself a price for silence."

"The real solution to the Ayodhya issue lies in determining what the originanl character was of the said place of worship."

"Last week I went to see Arun Jaitley. He is one of the few politicians whom I respect. I have known him from the time I was a junior reporter and can say honestly that he is one of a handful of politicians who is not in politics for personal gain but for public service. He is in the process of moving out of the house in Lutyens’ Delhi that was allotted to him as a senior minister. While waiting to see him I noticed blank spaces on the walls where pictures have been taken down. His decision to surrender his government house as soon as he demitted office is remarkable in itself. I know millionaires and maharajahs who have to be physically evicted."

"I have already made it clear that there is an atmosphere of complete peace in the country. This country has never been intolerant and won’t be so in the future too."

"In the early years of the twentieth century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. Then came many years of failed policies, and Argentina retreated to the status of a middle-income country. […] Things changed in 1991 when Domingo Cavallo (an economics Ph.D. from Harvard) took over as economy minister. Argentina implemented an array of promarket economic reforms, including a currency-board type of monetary system."

"The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to procure the largest quantity of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing."

"It is simply, and solely, the abundance of money within a state [which] makes the difference in its grandeur and power."

"Que faut-il faire pour vous aider? Laissez-nous faire!"

"As a rigid logician, [Colbert] cannot object to the reduction of his principles to a logical absurdity, which may be stated thus. The growth of French industry and commerce requires that a high standard of quality in the products be maintained. This standard can only be secured by Government regulation: this regulation can only be forced on an unwilling people by search for and exposure of defective goods: this search injures the trade which it is desired to promote, and disheartens the merchants and others whose zealous cooperation is of the last importance for the success of French industry and commerce. Of course the fallacy lies in the first statement, the assumption that an absolute standard of excellence exists, and that the producer is a better judge of it than the consumer."

"He was an avid lover of Urdu language. He was appointed as the Chairman of Gujral Committee in the 1970s. The committee was envisaged the task of finding means and ways to promote the Urdu language and to provide adequate facilities for Urdu speaking people in educational, cultural and administrative matters....Gujral will long be remembered as a seasoned diplomat, articulate speaker and a true champion of the masses. MANUU owes a lot to this inspiring personality."

"As India's representative, he personally met with Saddam Hussein. His hug with Hussein during the meeting remains a matter of controversy."

"He was a member of the Club of Madrid, an independent non-profit organization composed of 81 democratic former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 57 different countries."

"He is remembered for the Gujral Doctrine, a policy grounded on India’s unilaterally reaching out diplomatically to its neighbours without the expectation of reciprocity. Despite his brief tenure, he made his mark by introducing the Gujral Doctrine, which set the stage for countless negotiations in subsequent years. In 1998 he was elected again to the Lok Sabha."

"As prime minister, he extended his doctrine to Pakistan. He held a historic meeting with the Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif at which they agreed that the two countries must keep talking. The agreement was sealed with words from an Urdu poet: "May our conversation never end, may one thing lead to another." In spite of events that could well have permanently derailed the conversation, it still continues and there have been positive results."

"He may not have been a popular leader, but it was his diplomacy and ability to keep friends across political borders that helped him stay afloat in various posts and elevated him to the post of Prime Ministership....His expertise in foreign affairs remained throughout his tenure and the 'Gujral Doctrine‘ on how India should deal with her neighbours reaped accolades for India."

"Each of these five propositions is intrinsically sound. Each is wise. Each is capable of implementation. Taken collectively, they constitute a practical and principled foundation for regional cooperation and security. I endorse them without reservation and I express the hope, the fervent hope of all of us in other five countries of the region, that India and Pakistan will see in these principles the way forward for them on the path of friendship and peace."

"He always knew which way the camel would lie down. This old Urdu saying was particularly applicable to Gujral who had a deep love of Urdu poetry."

"On one occasion when he was prime minister, the usually emollient Gujral lost his cool. On a visit to Pakistan, just before visiting India, the British foreign minister, Robin Cook, suggested that Britain might mediate between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. When questioned about this by Egyptian intellectuals, Gujral described Britain as "a third-rate power nursing delusions of the grandeur of its past."

"He is not an opportunist and that's what makes me apprehensive of his ability to lead a bunch of unprincipled opportunists who have got together in what is called the United Front."

"An important immediate gain of the new doctrine [Gujral Doctrine] was the resolution of the longstanding dispute with Bangladesh over the sharing of the Ganges water. His skill as a politician was demonstrated when he won support for the agreement from the communist chief minister of West Bengal. It was the state most affected by the agreement and had consistently blocked earlier proposed settlements."

"In my 10 months as prime minister, I made seven trips to Kashmir. Militancy reduced greatly during the UF rule."

"The Gujral doctrine is a doctrine of good neighbourliness. In South Asia, India is the largest country and the largest economy. All the countries of the neighbourhood put together cannot match India. Therefore, it is my doctrine, that in the post-Cold War era, all the neighbours must look up to India as a friendly neighbour. For doing so, if concessions have to be given, they should. But these concessions do not include two things: no transfer of sovereignty of any part of India, including Kashmir; and second, we will not compromise on our basic secular, democratic polity. Minus these two factors, we are willing to give concessions as long as it does not hurt our defence."

"After the tests [Nuclear tests by India], I had said there was no imminent danger to India's security environment which necessitated us to undertake the tests. But the tests have taken place. Therefore, naturally, as a member of the nation, I have to see the situation in the post-nuclear age. It is now no use discussing whether the tests should have been undertaken or not. But India's nuclear policy from 1988, in fact from 1974, is totally justified."

"We are a huge country, with different linguistic, religious and cultural backgrounds. Despite our difficulties, we have held together, and that too democratically, which is something few others can boast about. In that sense we are a great role model."

"He was a skilful parliamentarian who had an uncanny grasp of the manoeuvrings within the different parties. This, coupled with charm, persuasiveness and an ability to get on with politicians of all parties, made him a formidable force in political crises. Although his periods in office were brief and the governments of the time chronically unstable, he made a fundamental change in India's foreign policy."