Ties with Arab world are getting stronger under PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi may be set to become the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel but his government has walked the extra mile in the past three years to engage with Palestine and all Arab countries as well, along with Iran, as part of diplomatic balancing.

The BJP-led NDA government was widely expected to expand India’s ties with Israel, but it has taken care to attach equal importance to relations with West Asia and North Africa, commonly referred to as the Arab world.

The PM’s visit to Israel from July 4-6 is expected to open up scope of wider engagement across agriculture, water, startups and IT sectors, besides expanding traditional areas of counterterrorism and defence partnerships. Modi is likely to address a session with Israeli CEOs to attract investments into India, the first such Indo-Israeli exercise. Apart from the deliverables, the visit will of course have a huge symbolic significance as well.


Engagement with West Asia received momentum after the government assumed charge and Modi’s visit to the United Arab Emirates in August 2015 proved a game changer of sorts, from expanding counter-terror partnership to establishing defence manufacturing ties to commitment of $75 billion for India’s infrastructure sector.

The Modi government’s engagement with the Arab World and Iran is based on five important pillars – safety of expatriates, securing energy resources, attracting investments, expanding counter-terror or security partnership and connectivity corridors. India’s counter-terror narrative has found resonance with the key Gulf players, some of whom have been traditional friends of Pakistan but supported India’s decision to carry out cross-border terror strikes after the attack on the Indian Army camp in Uri.

From hosting both Abu Dhabi Crown Prince (including as Republic Day chief guest in 2016) and Egyptian President (twice) to the ruler of Qatar and Syrian deputy prime minister and top Jordanian leader to Modi’s visits to Saudi Arabia and Iran – West Asia has been a key area for the NDA regime’s foreign policy outreach. India expects to host the Saudi monarch and Jordan’s king later this year as well as the Iranian president in the future.

Strategic affairs analysts pointed out that most leaders from West Asia and North Africa are increasingly undertaking standalone trips to India, excluding Pakistan. The de-hyphenation comes in the backdrop of India’s growing economic profile and growing threats from terror groups.

Besides, during the past one and a half years, the vice president has visited some of the North African countries and ministers from the Gulf and Iran have been regular visitors to India since 2015. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj made a number of trips to the volatile Gulf region and India established itself as a responder in distress when it rescued not only its nationals but others as well from wartorn Yemen.

Junior external affairs minister MJ Akbar, using his knowledge and contacts in West Asia, has been able to strike a rapport with leaders in the region and even made visits to Syria and Iraq. Currently, though, the government faces a challenge in increasingly volatile West Asia following the decision of four countries to sever ties with Qatar.

Last month India sought to elevate its ties with Palestine during the visit of President Mahmoud Abbas by reinforcing its principled stand on a two-state solution and offering support for a slew of capacity building projects, in keeping with the government’s diplomatic balancing act ahead of the prime minister’s Israel trip.

Earlier, in 2015, President Pranab Mukherjee visited both Israel and Palestine during the same trip. Last year India and Palestine also held their first ever joint commission to identify specific areas of cooperation.

Significantly, India’s ties with Israel expanded simultaneously with expansion of its partnership with the Arab World during the past two decades. And during his trip to Israel, Modi and the leadership there are expected to discuss the issue of negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis for a lasting solution to their protracted crisis.