48645255438_77e7265a4b_c Courtesy: TICAD7/Flickr
3 October 2019

TICAD 7’s agenda: engaging private enterprise

The Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development was a departure from earlier editions of it. Japan, which is changing tack as a competitor to China in Africa, held back from publicising the number of heads of state present to prevent any comparisons with other such forums and made no further commitments on Overseas Development Assistance. The accent, instead, was on increasing Japanese private sector engagement

shutterstock_1457421710 (1) Courtesy: Shutterstock
26 September 2019

Quad in the Indo-Pacific

The foreign ministers of the Quad countries meet for the first time in New York today even as the Indo-Pacific has turned into a keenly contested geopolitical arena. Some countries are offering to play a mediatory role while other triangular equations are also undergoing change. An analysis of some of the relationships at work here

merlin_155315436_159aa613-01d1-4b5e-8c01-f33ad69d0626-superJumbo Courtesy: NY Times
30 May 2019

Foreign policy continuum with the BJP

India’s foreign policy is increasingly blended in with its domestic agenda – and vice versa. Prime Minister Modi’s past proactive foreign policy has paid dividends in bringing global attention to India, a fact young voters have noticed and approved. In his second term, what will India’s foreign policy look like? A continuum of the past, but also new frameworks for the future

ibc-center-oil-gaz-4-696x392 Courtesy: ibctrain.com
2 April 2019

India & the influential SCO Energy Club

The main objective of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Energy Club, when Russia formed it, was to market its member states’ substantial oil and natural gas reserves. This map shows some of the important natural gas pipelines, originating from Russia and its neighbouring countries that are not members of the SCO. What can India do to secure supplies from these abundant but currently inaccessible natural gas reserves?

41608961145_bcfb0f1515_o Courtesy: MEA Flickr
26 February 2019

Indo-Pacific, the contested theatre

The key global powers are redefining their roles in the Indo-Pacific to promote national interest. China’s rise and increased activism in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region is an uncontested reality even as Asian countries worry about the new cold war in which the U.S. and China are locked. The Quadrilateral Dialogue has reemerged to prevent a unipolar Asia — these are some of the trends unfolding in this arena

Indian-Ocean-Routes-IDRW Courtesy: Bharat Shakti
17 January 2019

India, Japan and the Asia Africa Growth Corridor

India and Japan, two countries wanting to enhance the quality of their engagement in Africa’s development, have historically taken fundamentally different approaches to the task. But now, both are being guided by geoeconomic imperatives in aligning their strategy in the region— and the Asia Africa Growth Corridor offers many opportunities for synergy at the B2B level

44462476151_09bdc8fc7f_o Courtesy: Flickr / Paul Kagame
15 November 2018

China, Africa and the art of mutual benefit

China’s footprint in the African continent is growing because it is a zealous summiteer. And now, in response to ‘debt-trap’ criticism, it also appears to be stressing private sector investment in Africa over loans and credit. Are there any takeaways for India in this?

chinese-poverty.1515419981 Courtesy: Fair Planet
13 November 2018

China’s poverty reduction vs others’

China recently celebrated 40 years since it began its successful poverty reduction effort, at a conference in Beijing. While lauding China's efforts, experts do recognise that different formulations work for different countries

President_Donald_Trump_and_Prime_Minister_Justin_Trudeau_Joint_Press_Conference_February_13_2017 Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
25 October 2018

Three pillars of Canada’s worldview

The United States, Europe and the Asia Pacific today form Canada’s tripartite foreign policy priorities. The ASEAN is its sixth largest partner, which was not so 20 years ago, but economic engagement with India – still small, compared to China and Japan – has scope to grow