After high-voltage, headline-hogging South Asia diplomacy, it’s time for the new government to infuse spark in India’s “Look Middle East” policy as it gets ready to host the foreign minister of Oman, the Gulf state which is home to 700,000 Indians who send home $3 billion in annual remittances.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, who touches down in Delhi June 3, will become the first foreign dignitary the Modi government will host after assuming office last week. The visit will put the spotlight on India’s multi-faceted engagement with the energy-rich Middle East region, which accounts for over 70 per cent of the country’s oil and gas imports. The importance of the region for India can’t be overstated as it is not only critical for the country’s energy security, but is also home to 7 million-strong Indian diaspora, who send over $40 billion in annual remittances.
By hosting Oman’s foreign minister within days of assuming the office, the Modi government has underlined its commitment to add an extra ballast to the relationship that burgeoned under the decade-long rule of the previous UPA coalition. The last few months of the Manmohan Singh government saw a flurry of high-profile visits from the region, including that of the Saudi crown prince in February, barely months before the world’s greatest democratic exercise brought a rival coalition to power with a robust majority in parliament.
Why Oman Matters
With Oman, an energy-rich country of 4 million people, India’s relations are somewhat special. For one thing, 700,000 Indians are an integral part of Oman’s society and have enriched their adopted homeland with skills and enterprise. The fact that these hard-working Indians send home $3 billion in annual remittances bespeak their success.
Economically, the India-Oman relations have been climbing up steadily, with bilateral trade expected to cross $6 billion during the next financial year. More than 50 Indo-Oman joint ventures, encompassing diverse sectors, underscores the mutual attractiveness that defines India-Oman’s economic engagement.
Strategically, India-Oman relations are acquiring greater weight, a trend that is visible in India’s larger relationship with the Middle East region where the focus in the last few years has had been on reinforcing the sturdy economic and energy ties with enhanced security cooperation. The India-Oman defence cooperation has been institutionalised through joint naval exercises christened “Sea Breeze & Naseem-Al-Bahr’ and Air Exercise “Eastern Bridge & Al Jisr Al Sharqi.” The two countries have also been stepping up cooperation in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.
Look Middle East policy
The visit by the Omani minister should set the stage for the BJP-led NDA government to intensify its engagement with the region which is critical to India’s national security in the larger sense, but is grappling with a host of crises and power shifts that could impact New Delhi’s vital interests in the region.
The last NDA dispensation led by Atal Behari Vajpayee (1998-2004) saw some significant initiatives in transforming India’s complex relationship with the region. The Vajpayee government made a break with the cautious past by hosting the first prime ministerial visit from Israel, a bete noire of Arab states. But the NDA government also did a deft balancing act given intricate rivalries in the region, with Vajpayee travelling to Iran and hosting Iran’s moderate president Mohamed Khatami in 2003 as the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in Delhi.
The newly-inducted Narendra Modi government, which is seen as business-friendly but arouses mixed feelings in the region largely due to apprehensions about its attitude towards India’s Muslim minority, has a major opportunity to recalibrate and galvanise India’s Look Middle East policy to protect and promote the country’s multifarious interests in the region.
Author Profile
- Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.
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