India’s appetite to shape global agenda more than ever before: Jaishankar

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Updated: Jul 02, 2020 17:44 IST

External minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said that India is now more involved in shaping global agenda now than ever before.

In a media briefing to mark 100 days of the second term of Modi government, Jaishankar said, “Collaborations have become more salient parts of India’s foreign policy. Connections between national security and foreign policy. Co-relation between national security goals and foreign policy goals have grown stronger.”

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He also said that India’s appetite to shape global agenda is more than what it was ever before.

“I think today if you look at the big debates at multilateral forums - G20, BRICS, you will see that the Indian voice, Indian views are today heard much more clearly.”

Referring to India’s neighbourhood, Jaishankar did not name Pakistan but said that until “it becomes a normal neighbour that would remain a challenge.”

“We hope to build a better, stronger neighbourhood but recognising that we have a unique challenge from one neighbour, until the issue of cross border terrorism is successfully addressed and that neighbour becomes a normal neighbour that would remain a challenge,” the foreign minister said.

Jaishankar also said that India’s engagement with Africa has been steadily rising and New Delhi is on target to meet its commitment.

“We have been very active in Africa in the last 100 days. The vision for Africa was outlined by the PM last July. We are largely on track in terms of our Africa commitments. Work is underway to open 18 embassies in Africa. We have made a commitment of 10 billion dollars to Africa and have reached 6 billion.”

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