Shaping the multipolar era: Foreign Minister Jaishankar outlines 6 diplomatic pillars for India’s global rise

Addressing the valedictory session for the Silver Jubilee of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) as an Institution of National Importance on Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar outlined six pivotal issues that will define Indian diplomacy in the coming decades. Navigating an increasingly uncertain global environment, he highlighted the consequences of India’s rapid growth, the global flow of talent, communication and AI, engagement with the Global South, civilisational identity, and strategic autonomy.

Pointing to India's doubling GDP and expanded capabilities over the last decade, Jaishankar emphasized that India's trajectory will change its global standing and increase its obligations, “This is not just a matter of figures or of size or quantity. It has a direct implication for our footprint in the world, for the intensity of our ties with other nations, and for our relevance to key global debates. We count more, we influence more, but we also have greater responsibility.”

As a globalized workplace demands international mobility, Indian diplomacy must adapt, “For Indian diplomacy, there is a whole host of issues which flow from that reality: our consular services, our community welfare initiatives, our rapid response capabilities, our mobility understandings, all these have a salience that they have never had before. This is definitely a more people-centric foreign policy today.”


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Rapid digital evolution and social media require quicker response times and novel strategies to shape narrative, which will grow even more complex, “Now, that said, we now confront the prospect of conducting diplomacy in the era of AI. This is a debate in itself, but the short point is that our business is going to get very much more complicated.”

Describing India as a “multi-millennia civilization regaining its place on the global stage,” he noted that its unique presence requires clear engagement, “India will have its own character traits; it will have its own personality and one that the world will come to appreciate. But it is up to us to communicate, to explain, and to facilitate that process.”

“When India advocates dialogue and diplomacy, when we stress that endless war must give way to an end to war, this is our particular way of thinking. Indian diplomacy will always have peace and development as its central agenda, not just as an idealistic goal, but as a sensible prescription for the world order to advance progress and prosperity.”

Reaffirming that an independent foreign policy is fundamental to India's approach, Jaishankar rejected alternatives to strategic autonomy, “This is in our DNA. This is actually our mindset; it’s our intuitive belief.”

“No one really serious believes that there is an alternative to strategic autonomy. As a result, we are naturally designed for the multipolar world that awaits us all. Indeed, you would perceive that India’s answer to the culture of extreme competition is to double down on multipolarity.”

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Concluding his address, Jaishankar stressed that as India’s rise unfolds alongside the foreign policy goals of "Viksit Bharat by 2047," institutions like ICWA will play a vital role in providing the intellectual grounding necessary to navigate a world that is becoming "more turbulent and uncertain by the day."