India´s West Asia policy in the Modi era

Abstract

It goes on to explore case studies of India’s most important relationships in the region during the Modi era – Saudi Arabia, Israel and Iran – to highlight the continued significance of bilateralism in India’s ties with the countries in the region. The foreign policy of India towards the countries of the Middle East is not, however, predicated on the region being a region. Between themselves, the Gulf countries account for 15 per cent of India's total foreign trade. The GCC countries were, collectively, India’s second largest trading partner, and constituted the largest single origin of imports into India and the second largest destination for exports from India. It can be defined as the India’s Trademark Bilateralism in ‘West Asia’. Both India and Iran began to liberalise their economies in the 1990s. Iran was particularly helpful in its attempts to the address the question of India’s energy security as well, when it proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. It holds immense strategic and economic significance for India and Afghanistan.

Keywords

• West Asia
• India
• Iran
• Gulf
• Energy
• Petroleum