Ties with Gulf countries have become a key focus of India\u2019s foreign policy over the past 10 years, the latest report by the Council for Strategic and Defence Research shows, highlighting New Delhi\u2019s special focus on Saudi Arabia and the UAE.<\/p>\n
Headquartered in the Indian capital, the CSDR is a think tank specializing in research on geopolitics, foreign policy, and military strategy. Its report published last month, \u201cFrom Trees to Forests: The Evolution of India-Middle East Ties post 2014,\u201d highlights India\u2019s investment in bilateral relations with Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which are independent of larger global frameworks.<\/p>\n
The effort to strengthen the connection started before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, but it has gained momentum with his frequent visits to the six-member bloc comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last 10 years, India has substantiated this effort by filling crucial gaps in political, economic, and military contact with key states, with a special focus on Saudi Arabia and the UAE,\u201d Bashir Ali Abbas, senior research associate at CSDR and the report\u2019s author, told Arab News.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last 10 years, the Middle East has also emerged as a strategic space for India, with new defense relationships, and economic visions which also fit with the Gulf\u2019s own focus on economic diversification.\u201d<\/p>\n
While India\u2019s relations with the Gulf region span centuries, it currently has the largest concentration of the Indian diaspora \u2014 about 9.7 million people.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd India\u2019s top oil suppliers at any point in time inevitably are at least three Gulf states. This alone necessitates that India pay close attention to the region,\u201d Abbas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn India, policy makers and official decision-making institutions have updated their understanding of the region, but more importantly its changing nature. This evolved understanding has enabled the rise of new strategic partnerships, and PM Narendra Modi is the only Indian PM to have officially visited all six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.\u201d<\/p>\n
By 2018, the GCC became India\u2019s largest regional trading bloc, with an annual trade value of $104 billion in FY2017-2018. The volume that year surpassed India-ASEAN trade of $81 billion, and India-EU trade \u2014 $102 billion.<\/p>\n
Currently, it is even higher, with the Indian government estimating it at $162 billion in FY2023-24.<\/p>\n
In 2019, India became only the fourth state to establish a Strategic Partnership Council with Saudi Arabia, following Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman\u2019s visit to New Delhi.<\/p>\n
During the Kingdom\u2019s presidency of the Group of 20 largest economies in 2020, the two countries started to forge partnerships and bilateral programs that saw further development as India took the G20 presidency in 2023.<\/p>\n
Over the past four years, the countries have since also engaged in a series of bilateral navy, air force and army exercises.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, India sees Saudi Arabia as a strategic partner, with political and economic ties robust enough to also substantial cooperation in defense and security,\u201d Abbas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven both India\u2019s own Viksit Bharat 2047 development vision and (the crown prince\u2019s) Vision 2030, India and Saudi Arabia are now driven by shared economic and strategic goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the UAE, India signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2022, following which their bilateral trade grew to $85 billion in just over a year. The number of multi-sectoral memoranda of understanding between Indian and Emirati public and private entities has since reached over 80, according to the CSDR report.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia also sought to reframe other bilateral relationships where fresh opportunities had arisen,\u201d it said, adding that New Delhi was \u201cclosing the Gulf circle,\u201d with strategic partnerships signed with Kuwait during Modi\u2019s visit in 2024, and with Qatar during Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani\u2019s state trip to New Delhi in early 2025.<\/p>\n
The relations \u201cwill certainly see a positive trajectory in the near and distant future \u2014 especially if it is backed up by greater avenues of intellectual contact,\u201d Abbas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreater intellectual contact and an evolved popular understanding will enhance the strategic relationships between India and its Arab partners, through the injection of more ideas, perspectives, and actors who can work as champions for closer ties.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ties with Gulf countries have become a key focus of India\u2019s foreign policy over the past 10 years, the latest report by the Council for Strategic and Defence Research shows, highlighting New Delhi\u2019s special focus on Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Headquartered in the Indian capital, the CSDR is a think tank specializing in research …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":82215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82217,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82203\/revisions\/82217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}