Focus on economic diplomacy one of key changes in Indian foreign policy, says EAM Jaishankar

Mumbai: A focus on economic diplomacy has become one of the key changes in Indian foreign policy which is now fundamentally purposed to serve national development and security, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at an event on Sunday.

In his keynote address at the silver jubilee celebrations of the Aditya Birla Group's scholarship programme in Mumbai, he said India's appetite to explore the world has also grown, be it in tourism, education or work possibilities.

"This deeper linkage between the external world and our national endeavours offers us crucial opportunities to accelerate the path towards a Viksit Bharat. In fact, we take it so seriously that I can declare that foreign policy now has fundamentally purposed to advancing national development, apart from ensuring national security," Jaishankar said.

The two goals are of course closely linked, he said.

"Therefore, much of our diplomacy is dedicated towards promoting exports, attracting investments, sourcing best practices, identifying technologies and expanding tourism," the external affairs minister said, adding the cumulative impact is to increase employment opportunities at home.

He said that there are different ways of achieving these objectives and the most basic is to "promote the Indian brand and strengthen international confidence in partnering with us".

"Given the diversity of our country, it is necessary to do that at a state level as well," Jaishankar added.

Noting that it is the business attraction that drives foreign investors and potential projects, he said their inclinations are usually strengthened by a favourable enabling environment and a more granular understanding of India's plans.

Technology flows and best practices are also painstaking two-way exercises that require both ends to appreciate their full potential, he said.

"This focus on economic diplomacy has, in fact, become one of the key changes in our foreign policy in contemporary times. The international situation is also ripe today for more strenuous efforts in that direction. The Covid experience brought home to the world the dangers of depending on a limited geography," Jaishankar said.

"Our interactions with the world and interests in it have grown proportionately... the world is today increasingly appreciating the India story," he added.

The external affairs minister also said, "Today there is a perceptible interest in engaging with us, reflected in the steady flow of high-profile visitors and businesses. Our own very appetite to explore the world has also grown, be it in tourism, education or work possibilities."

“As we enter the era of AI (artificial intelligence), who captures, processes and deploys your data is of utmost importance," he said.

Data privacy and cyber security are consequently paralleling reliable supply chains as a global priority. That manufacturing and data are also more deeply fused is yet another reality to be taken into account, Jaishankar stated.

"So, in this scenario, India has an opportunity to board the manufacturing bus that we missed to some extent in the past. It is incumbent on us to develop the logistics, the infrastructure and the business environment to promote greater industrial production," he said.

Stating that no nation can truly develop in a unidimensional manner, and large ones, in particular, like India, he said, "We must have some basic self-sufficiency." "That is why we speak of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Otherwise, in an era of weaponised economics, we leave ourselves seriously open to vulnerabilities," Jaishankar remarked.

According to him, India currently faces two big challenges ahead -- "the scale of our producers and the limits of our technology -- both are changing with each passing year and are indeed interlinked in many ways".

For Bharat to rise, he said, it must develop deep technology strengths and create the capacity to research, to design and to innovate, and that will only happen when manufacturing expands, and the industrial culture strikes deep roots.

"After all, we must be safeguarded from unfair competition during that process, especially if they could have a strategic intent. Global engagement cannot be argued on narrow economic merits alone without any regard to its social and national security consequences. Indeed, that is one of the takeaways from recent developments in the United States," Jaishankar added.