New Delhi, Mar 25: Lauding Indian diplomats, Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Tuesday said they are the best in the world when it comes to crisis management and negotiation. Praising them for the successful negotiation to bring back three Indian truck drivers who had been abducted in Iraq in 2004, Ansari, himself a former diplomat said, "Indian diplomats are one of the best in the world in negotiation and crisis management."

"And it has been proved many times when they have successfully pursued the national interests at the world front," he said. The Vice President was speaking at function to release a book "Anatomy Of An Abduction", an account of the abduction episode in war-torn Iraq.

The book has been written by former diplomatic journalist V Sudarshan. It throws light on how the government functions at a time of crisis. The non-fictional work gives an elaborate account of the way the Indian crisis management teams responded in rescue of the hostages in Iraq. The three Indian hostages, all employees of a Kuwait-based transport company KGL, were abducted along with three Kenyans and an Egyptian by some unknown Iraqi dissidents for ransom. They were freed after long negotiations between the Indian officials and the abductors.