Round The World
New
Delhi, 30 December 2014
Modi’s
Foreign Policy
‘NEIGHBOURHOOD
FIRST’& FDI
By Ashok B
Sharma
Circa 2014 was assuring for India’s foreign
policy. There were a number of incoming and outgoing visits by the heads of
Government and State. India’s
interaction with powers like the US,
Russia, China, Japan,
Australia, South Korea
took place. There was a gap in the activity at the top level in April and most
of May due to the election process in the country. With the change of the
Government in May 26 after the polls, some expected a definite change in the
country’s foreign policy owing to ideological reasons. But belying their hopes
this did not occur as it logically should. What happened was not a shift in the
country’s foreign policy, but in the emphasis in certain areas.
The new emphasis in the country’s
foreign policy is ‘Neighbourhood First’ Another emphasis is to engage with
major political and economic powers for inviting investments. Prime Minister
Modi even went out of his way to personally reach out to Indians settled
abroad, particularly during his visits to the US
and Australia and urged them
to be partners in the ‘Make in India’
programme.
The exchange of visits between Modi
and Prime Ministers of Australia and Japan in a calendar shows the
assuring nature of relationships. Modi’s visit to the US is being
reciprocated by US President Barack Obama on January 26, 2015. Following South
Korean President Park Geun-hye’s visit to India
in January, this year, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj planned a visit
to Seoul by the
end of Circa 2014.
The most striking example to show there
is no shift in the country’s foreign policy was India’s
position on Israel’s attack
on Gaza strip.
Swaraj assured Parliament that there was no change in policy towards Israel and Palestine.
India condemned the inhuman
attack on civilian population in Gaza,
called for restrain on both sides and restoration of peace and start of the
dialogue process.
In fact, the noticeable change in
the emphasis in foreign policy was marked from day one of the new Government on
May 26, when Modi took his oath as Prime Minister. The leaders of all SAARC
countries were invited at the swearing-in ceremony. Thereafter, the next day,
Modi had bilateral engagements with all leaders including the Speaker of
Bangladesh Parliament who represented the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The
message that Modi gave was that India
intends to make South Asian countries as partners in its economic development
and present the region as a united bloc in the global fora.
But Modi’s ambition hit the
roadblock when the foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan at
Islamabad were called off as Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit went ahead
to talk with the separatist Hurriyat leaders of Kashmir. New
Delhi maintained that Kashmir
issue can be resolved bilaterally between the two nations without involvement
of any third party.
This had its impact on the 18th
SAARC Summit in Kathmandu. Pakistan refused
to give its consent to the signing of three agreements – cooperation in power
sector, motor vehicle agreement and regional railways agreement. Finally, with
the intervention of Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala the agreement on
cooperation in power sector was signed after the SAARC leaders met at the
retreat, where Modi finally shook hands with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and
exchanged pleasantries.
New Delhi has long being pleading
with Islamabad
to take action against terrorists operating on its soil and booking those
involved in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. After the recent gunning down of
innocent children at an Army school in Peshawar,
Pakistan has
declared to take firm against the terrorists. Many analysts believe this may be
a turning point in Pakistan’s
policy.
It is unfortunate that the SAARC
process is being held up over political differences between India and Pakistan. SAFTA is being held to
the hostage over the difference between two major countries in the region. Also
the process of moving towards a South Asian Customs Union and South Asian
Economic Union is being delayed.
India has border dispute with
it’s another immediate neighbour, China. But the political
differences between New Delhi and Beijing have as yet not
held economic cooperation to hostage. Such should be the relations between India and Pakistan. Apart from allowing
smooth entry of Indian goods, Islamabad should
also give access to these goods to enter Afghanistan by land route. During
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit many agreements were signed, some of which
are of economic and cultural cooperation. China assured $ 20 billion
investment.
Prime Minister Modi has also
cherished the idea of integrating South Asia with South
East Asia. He has already sounded that if Pakistan is not
willing to join the process, he will move forward with others – obviously
suggesting the integration of the sub-regional group, BIMSTEC with ASEAN, which
is moving towards an ASEAN Community by 2015. Modi has planned to engage with
Buddha diplomacy with South and South-East Asian countries to strengthen the
bonds of integration. He has garnered support for Nalanda University
in East Asia Summit.
Giving momentum to his plans, Modi
declared ‘Act East Policy’ and extended it to Pacific
Islands by raising India-Pacific Islands’
Forum dialogue to Summit level. India
is ready to join the Regional Economic Cooperation Partnership (RECP) agreement
in the region that includes 10 ASEAN countries, Australia,
New Zealand
and East Asian countries. Australia
has agreed to supply uranium to India’s
nuclear power plants.
Modi has expressed India’s
eagerness to join the proposed Eurasian Union during the recent visit of
Russian President Vladimir Putin. During his visit a number of agreements were
signed, including cooperation on military training, nuclear power, joint
exploration of hydrocarbons and joint study on India-Russia hydrocarbon
pipeline.
At BRICS Summit in Fortaleza
the agreement to set up a development bank under the first chairmanship of India was an
achievement. During his Brazilian visit Modi had the opportunity to meet
leaders of Latin American countries. At G20 Summit in Brisbane, India’s
suggestions for dealing with base erosion and profit shifting by multinational
companies, automatic exchange of tax information to curb the menace of black
money was taken on board.
Modi’s Japan visit fetched 3.5 trillion
yen public and private investment and financing within a span of five years.
Prime Minister Abe also pledged ODA loan of 50 billion yen to India
Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd for a public-private partnership
infrastructure projects in India.
It is to be seen that how much the
appeals made by Prime Minister Modi to overseas Indians would materialise in
the increase of foreign direct investment flow into the country. In the coming
years Modi has lot to do to promote his ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy. ---
INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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