NEW DELHI, 18th June, 2023 (WAM) — India’s Minister for External Affairs, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has said that his country’s relations with the Gulf have “evolved and advanced” in the last nine years. Jaishankar was speaking at a special media briefing to mark nine years of the Narendra Modi government’s foreign policy since Prime Minister Modi assumed office in 2014. “Our relationships have evolved. Take the regions, the Gulf, the ASEAN, each one of these has advanced. And why have they advanced? They didn’t advance by gravity and, you know, by nature. They advanced because people worked very hard. That in these relationships, the Modi government has driven, it has put in place policies, the Prime Minister himself has led the diplomatic efforts from the front, that we have tried to find areas of agreement, of collaboration, of working together with these countries, we have tried to expand the economic base, the technology base, tried to find security partners, and we have been largely successful.” Jaishankar said the Middle East is one area where such “success is evident, if you look at the Gulf countries. “Over the past nine years, there has been a change. There has been increased political engagement and a great level of comfort. If we look around the world today and think about which countries support us, many of them are from the Middle East.” The Minister said there have been numerous high-level visits to the Gulf. In addition, he has himself visited Egypt and Tunisia, Jaishankar said, while his ministerial colleagues have been to Iraq, Morocco and Algeria. “Our engagement with these countries has increased, and our relationships have become closer through political interactions. Trade has seen significant growth in the past nine years. So, from every perspective, this region serves as an example of successful diplomacy for us,” Jaishankar concluded.
Source: Emirates News Agency (WAM)