External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar on Wednesday in conversation with Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami at the Republic Summit 2019 shared some of the goals which India needs to achieve at the global stage to become a leading power. During the session, 'Bharat's Global Powerplay' he said, "We will very soon be the most populous country in the world and a few years after that be the third-largest economy in the world. We will be the largest talent pool in the world. I would say, the big international issues of the world will need us to weigh in, in some form, that is one side of the coin."

'Making of a leading power'

Explaining the groundwork which is essential for India becoming a "leading power", S Jaishankar said, "The other side is we need to be doing more, we need to have relations with everybody and we need to be everywhere. Foreign policy is also similar to elections. I am constantly testing my national standing at elections of various kinds. Now, if I am doing that, I need to have relations in every corner of the world. We need to engage the entire international community in a variety of ways. We have to be central to the calculations of Africa, we have to be present in the Pacific Islands. Tomorrow, people in the Caribbean should think of India as a not so distant country. This is the making of a power. This is the beginning of this journey. I would not say as a superpower now but as a leading power. If you are moving towards becoming a leading power, you have to lay this groundwork."

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar commenting on India's relation with China said, "Our relationship with China is a combination of competition and collaboration." He stated, "The two of us are quite unique, we are two countries with more than a billion people each. We have a certain place in human history."

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'I think there has been clarity in the last 5 years'

S Jaishankar also spoke about the issue of terrorism and cross-border terrorism, "I think there has been clarity in the last 5 years that unless we address the issue of terrorism, cross-border terrorism, talking about anything else doesn’t make sense. We did not have that clarity before. There are different ways of talking about it. I am not into diplomatic tactics out here. If you ask an average Indian today- what bothers you? He will tell you- it is the Pakistani terror. I mean no one has anything against the average Pakistani. It is the Pakistani policy of terrorism which bothers the average Indian."

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