External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said India remains one of the few nations in the world that is capable of simultaneously engaging with Russia and Ukraine as well as Israel and Iran, amid the ongoing geopolitical shifts in the world.
Speaking at the Business Today Vucanomics 2025, Jaishankar said, “A strategic approach also helps widen options.”
“In the current polarised era, India is among the few that can simultaneously engage Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Iran, the democratic West and the Global South, and the BRICS and QUAD,” Jaishankar added.
“We have initiated or joined more than 40 different groupings devoted to specific agendas – from renewables and biofuels to disaster resilience and connectivity,” he noted.
Jaishankar said even in a sensitive domain like defence and security, Indian diplomacy ensures that both armed forces and businesses have the widest possible selection of partners.
“When it comes to international cooperation, we have also shown the ability to forge different combinations for different domains, be it trade, technology, energy or security,” he said. “The endeavour, in the final analysis, is to keep as many doors open as possible. I have always maintained that ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ applies equally to foreign policy.”
Trade Agreement
He said trade agreements occupy a salient position in global economic engagement.
“This is even more so now, a reality that India must recognize. Currently, we are engaged in three particularly important negotiations – the FTAs with the European Union and the United Kingdom and the BTA with the United States. Just this week, we launched negotiations with New Zealand as well. A few others are already in the pipeline,” he said.
India and New Zealand resumed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations last week, years after it was stalled in 2015.
Aim Of FTA Negotiations
The Indian government earlier said the India-New Zealand FTA negotiations aim to achieve balanced outcomes that enhance supply chain integration and improve market access.
“This milestone reflects a shared vision for a stronger economic partnership, fostering resilience and prosperity,” the statement said.
Jaishankar also remarked at a time when India is expected to engage in hectic negotiations with the United States in a bid to avoid reciprocal tariffs that were threatened to be imposed by US President Donald Trump-led administration.
‘India First Approach’
Jaishankar said his government will follow the ‘India First approach’ by keeping the ‘Viksit Bharat’ approach as the goal.
“Obviously, thinking will also be guided by the prospect of tapping unrealized potential in these relationships. Most of our earlier FTAs are with Asian economies, many of a competitive character. Introducing an overall balance by engaging the Gulf and Western economies has not just an economic logic, but a strategic one as well,” he said.
Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas
Jaishankar said he feels that PM Narendra Modi-led government’s ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ policy holds true for foreign policy as well.
“When it comes to international cooperation, we have also shown the ability to forge different combinations for different domains, be it trade, technology, energy or security,” the minister added. “The endeavour, in the final analysis, is to keep as many doors open as possible. I have always maintained that ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ applies equally to foreign policy.”
(With inputs from IBNS)
