India Revives Strategic India–Arab Dialogue After a Decade, Hosts 2nd IAFMM in New Delhi

The 2nd India-Arab Foreign Ministers Meeting (IAFMM) was held in India today, the first significant diplomatic platform to be held in India in almost 10 years. The meeting, co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and the United Arab Emirates, also consists of the foreign ministers and senior representatives of all the 22 members of the Arab League as well as the Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit. The negotiation, the last of which took place in 2016 in Bahrain, is timely as West Asia is facing a very critical time in its region, with unrest, energy shifts, and geopolitical realignments. An economic impetus of India-Arab relations where the trade has already surpassed the 240 billion mark is a business forum coupled with the meeting.

Rebooting in the face of regional change

This is not a symbolic revival of the IAFMM in ten years, it is an act of correction. Since 2016, there have been structural shocks in West Asia, including the Gaza war to rebalancing in Syria and broader power realignment. The location of the meeting in New Delhi is an indication that India is ready to leave its transactional diplomas behind to have an organised, ministerial level of engagement. The fact that there is the Arab League leadership also puts an institutional weight on it implying that India is no longer that energy buyer, but it is a stakeholder in the stability of the region. There is also extensive observation of the meeting in the possibility of first level diplomatic contact with the new government of Syria under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. This timing makes India an observed but applicable interlocutor, someone who can stay balanced without being an overtly interfering participant.

India Arab Growth Matrix Economy and Energy

India and Arab have continued to be economically cooperative. The bilateral trade of over 240 billion dollars is an indication of strong interdependence mainly on hydrocarbons, LNG and petrochemicals. The diversification strategy is long term though, as the agenda has expanded to include education, media and culture. The current debate on energy concerns transition -green hydrogen, renewables and energy security more than crude. The parallel business forum supports a pragmatic policy-to-project strategy, which directly connects diplomacy to the results of investment. Arab sovereign wealth funds are essential capital partners to India; scale, demand, and technological depth are provided in India to Arab states. This reciprocalism is the reason as to why economic diplomacy gives the IAFMM a firmer basis today than ideological orientation.

The Diplomatic Advantage and the People- to-People Connections of India

Due to hosting the IAFMM, India will be strengthened as a safe diplomatic centre amidst global disintegration. With more than nine million Indians working around the Arab world, people-to-people ties are viewed as a strategic asset and not a soft addition. The presence of newcomers to the ministers of UAE, Palestine, Sudan, Libya, and Somalia, and Qatar, highlights the extent to which various nations have confidence in the convening power of India. More importantly, India has had a balanced approach; its involvement with Israel, Palestine, Iran and the Gulf at the same time; a strategy that has earned it credibility among few actors in the international system. The IAFMM therefore has a twofold motion of institutionalising the dialogue with the Arab world and strengthening the role of India as a non-polarising and reliable partner in an increasingly volatile region.