Упрощенная HTML-версия
Author : R. Lenchuk
Research Secretary, Second Asian Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
THE COLLAPSE of the bipolar system of inter-
national relations coincided with the start of suc-
cessful economic reforms in India, which were
launched in 1991 and led to serious discussions on
that country's role in the world.
Today, the main objective that India sets itself is to
sustain its high pace of economic growth and mod-
ernize its economy. This will enable the country to
solve numerous problems, among other things cre-
ating jobs and doing away with extreme poverty.
The Indian government is aware of the scale of the tasks facing the nation, but the current in-
ternational state of affairs seriously impedes their implementation.
In the meantime, India has to look for foreign resources to implement the large-scale Make in
India initiative, a program that has been launched by Modi and is his government's domestic pri-
ority. The program aims to make India a global industrial center and thereby create millions of
jobs for the country's growing population.
Modi has repeatedly pointed out that economic imperatives and bilateral relations with various
countries will determine India's foreign policy. This has been hailed in India both by the electorate
and the media.
NonAlignment 2.0 puts forward bold and interesting ideas. But, though the geopolitical theories
set forth in it are not to be dismissed, they don't amount to a strategy. The report propounds
principles to underlie India's foreign policy, which is important, of course, but fails to make it
quite clear in what way balancing between the United States and China would help India attain
its key objectives. While the report makes general statements to the effect that India's foreign
policy should be determined by its economic interests, there is a lack of a core in it that would
clearly set out overall national interests and explain how they should be pursued.
India has declined persistent Western appeals to join in criticism of Russia and, moreover, has
supported Russia. This has demonstrated once again that Indian-Russian bilateral ties have a
value of their own and that India won't trade them for boons from the West, which would have
been a more than easy path for New Delhi to take. For the West, there can be no better example
of the independence of India's foreign policy than its relations with Russia.
Relations with Russia remain a priority for India, which was demonstrated by Indian President
Pranam Mukherjee's presence at, and the participation of Indian troops in, the Victory Day pa-
rade on Moscow's Red Square on May 9, 2015 and by a Russian-Indian summit that day.
http://interaffairs.ru
Current Objectives of India's Foreign Policy