New Delhi, October 26 (IANS). External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said there has been a significant change in India’s relations with West Asian countries since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014.
Addressing the gathering at FLAME University in Pune, the External Affairs Minister highlighted diplomatic efforts that have strengthened ties with countries that historically had less engagement with India. One example of these is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where PM Modi visited in 2015. This was the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister after the late Indira Gandhi.
Jaishankar said that despite the proximity of the UAE, very little effort was made to engage with it.
According to the External Affairs Minister, India has a complex history with its neighbours, but recent developments have prompted countries to rethink their relations with New Delhi, especially in view of China’s growing influence.
Jaishankar said, “Countries are trying to improve their relations.” However, he acknowledged that many neighboring countries turned to China for their own benefit.
The External Affairs Minister said that India is an emerging economic power and is poised to become the third largest economy in the coming years.
Jaishankar said that the most important issue with China is the withdrawal of troops and the second issue is to reduce tension. He said, “If I take it back a bit, the situation on the border has been bad since 2020, which has had a very negative impact on relations with China. Since September 2020, we have been in talks with the Chinese on how to find a solution. There are various aspects, but the most important issue is the withdrawal of troops, because the troops are very close to each other and the possibility of an incident is quite high, so this is the first set of issues.
The External Affairs Minister said, “Next is to reduce tension. Then a bigger issue is how you manage the border and how you negotiate on the borders. Whatever is happening in China right now is because of the first phase. “What is happening is the disengagement phase. We were trying to discuss the issues of patrolling the India-China border.”
–IANS
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