The Hindu : New Delhi News : Indian foreign policy looks towards Middle East

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 16, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Indian foreign policy looks towards Middle East

Sandeep Dikshit

Oman and Qatar have already been addressed this month

Egypt and Turkey are sending their leaders to India
Manmohan Singh may visit Saudi Arabia next month

NEW DELHI: As the year draws to a close and the United Progressive Alliance government reaches the end of its term, New Delhi has rediscovered its penchant for dealing with the Middle East at the summit level. Although the Foreign Ministry began the spadework at the beginning of this year, it is only now that the effort is coming to fruition.

While Oman and Qatar have already been addressed this month through outgoing visits, Egypt and Turkey will be sending their leaders in the coming fortnight. Saudi Arabia could be added to the list through another outgoing visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next month.

In Oman and Qatar, Dr. Singh went about stitching defence and security arrangements besides discussing fresh prospects in cooperation in the oil and gas sector. On the defence side, India will lend its expertise in security management to Qatar which is tense about the safety of its considerable off-shore oil assets and is keen to gain experience on sanitising important venues for multi-national meets. With Oman, it has gained an understanding to provide logistics for Indian warships patrolling the region on anti-piracy missions in the vicinity of the Gulf of Aden.

In the area of oil, Oman provides a platform for increasing the activity of Indian upstream firms as it is not too disposed towards exporting hydrocarbons but open to the idea of value addition. Qatar has a long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) export contract with India. Another deal is expected to kick in by the end of next year. India is now engaged in securing an additional 2.5 million tonnes per year of LNG besides the 7.5 million tonnes contracted so far. Qatar is a promising destination for Indian financial institutions and Doha could be used as a foothold for entry into the other five countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. India is also seeking their surplus oil funds in a bid to nullify the expected decline of investments from western financial institutions.

Both countries are also important for India from the point of view of the large number of expatriates living there. The government has been proactive in the entire Gulf region to ensure the estimated 50 lakh Indians are treated humanely and provided fair wages.

Next week, it will be turn of the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, to visit New Delhi. With the Aditya Birla and Sanmar Group already present in Egypt, India is looking at the country to diversify its export destinations for both goods and services.

The effort had begun earlier but becomes more crucial in the face of expected slowdown in Indian exports to its mainstays in the European Union and the United States.

While Turkey and Egypt have been part of modern India’s consciousness thanks to the Khilafat movement in the former and the closeness with the latter during the early days of the Non Aligned Movement, there has not been appreciable movement in bilateral ties in recent years. As both countries are close to Israel and are part of the Muslim world in the region, the high-level meetings will give Dr. Singh the opportunity to evaluate the position of these countries when the next U.S. President Barack Obama initiates his Middle East policy after taking office in January next year.

Talks with Turkey will also revolve around oil and Iraq in which Ankara has high stakes. Besides sharing borders with Iraq, Turkey also has a restive Kurdish population. Mr. Obama’s policy on Iraq will also have a bearing on Turkey, particularly on the issue of securing its Kurdish frontiers where it has been subjected to attacks by Iraq-based militants which led to retaliatory cross border raids. As a member of the Neighbours of Iraq Forum, Ankara will be a major consideration when the time comes for Mr. Obama to begin implementing his election promise of winding down U.S. military presence in Iraq.

A close engagement with Turkey will also bring the promise of energy security. The two have already started collaborating in oil and gas exploration with ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) joining hands with Turkish Petroleum Corporation for joint operation of a Libyan exploration block. During the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara is expected to offer India a route to source oil and gas from Central Asia as an alternative to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi