India to gain from new foreign policy of global alignment: Piyush Goyal

MUMBAI: India is set to reap large-scale benefits after shifting from non-alignment to global alignment in foreign policy, Union Minister for Coal, New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal has said.

"India is set to reap large-scale benefits from its new foreign policy of global alignment," Goyal said here at a function to mark the Universal Brotherhood Day yesterday.

"The shift from non-alignment to global alignment was based on long-term vision and helped India gain greater acceptability in the world," he said.

The concept of non-alignment, as advocated by Jawaharlal Nehru, was relevant during the post-World War period when we needed the Eastern Block led by the then Soviet Union to safeguard our strategic interests while we also needed the support of the west to achieve our developmental goals, the Union Minister said.

The Non-aligned group also served as a balancing power in the bipolar world, he added.

He said the Pokhran II nuclear tests during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime was the turning point in India's international affairs.

"There were sanctions that followed, no doubt, but the world also took note of India's emerging strength. Carrying forward the legacy of the Vajpayee government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working on broad-basing India's engagement with the world," he added.

Goyal said in a globalised world, India could not afford to remain isolated and the country was no more just a balancing power, but was emerging as a leading power in the world.

India today stands in the comity of nations as one of the most important countries to engage with rather than a citizen of a developing world, he said.

"The world is looking up to get India's attention," he said citing the role played by the Indian Navy and the Air Force in evacuating citizens of 41 nations during the Yemen crisis, demonstrating the country's ability to shoulder leadership responsibilities.