India has been able to demonstrate to the world that we are an exceptional international power, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Tuesday, February 21.

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“On big global issues today, I think the expectation is that India would have an opinion. We have been able to demonstrate to the world that we are an exceptional international power,” Jaishankar said in an interview with news agency ANI.

Today, India’s global standing is clearly very much higher and quite strong. India’s relationship with major powers is good. The relationship with Europe

is best ever we have had, he said, adding that the exception is China because it has violated agreements.

China is an exception because it violated agreements that we have and has a posture at the border, and as a result, we have a counter posture, he said.

On Russia, he said the relationship has been extraordinarily steady and it has been steady through all the turbulence in global politics, Jaishankar said.

He dismissed the Opposition’s criticism on foreign affairs and said today we are in a good position.

The Opposition's job is to criticise. They (are the ones who) said (the Davos Summit) must have been on a holiday throughout January when we had 120 countries mainly from Global South engaging with us.

We have good relations with US, and the West in general. It’s in national interest, he said.

India is going up, it’s going well. Why do we have so many partnerships? Because we get along with so many people. How we are to manage different partnerships? Maybe because we are good at it, he said on India partnering in groupings like QUAD and others.

Interestingly, Jaishankar said he was sure the Gulf countries would prefer Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his predecessors.

“The Gulf sees today’s India as much more credible than the India of 10 years ago. You ask people in the Gulf, do you prefer PM Modi or his predecessors? I am willing to take a bet that every one of the Gulf countries will say they prefer PM Modi,” he said.

On Pakistan’s economic crisis, the foreign minister said India will not be in a position today to be relevant to their reform and revival process.

“Pakistan’s future is largely determined by its own actions and choices. Nobody reaches a difficult situation suddenly without cause. It is for them to find out. Today, our relationship is not one where we can be relevant directly to that process,” he said.

On the one thing that has shaped global views about India significantly, he said: “Vaccine maitri.”

Also read: Jaishankar hails Vajpayee for his diplomacy post 1998 nuclear tests

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Feb 21, 2023 8:08 PM IST