External Publicity and Public Diplomacy Division © Ministry of External Affairs www.mea.gov.in Curated & Published by: TGII Media Private Limited India Writes Network www.indiawrites.org AN INITIATIVE BY XPD DIVISION MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS GOVERNMENT OF INDIA UNPRECEDENTED OUTREACH UNPARALLELED OUTCOMES General (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd) M. J. Akbar Minister of State for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj Minister of State for External Affairs External Affairs Minister Vijay Gokhale Preeti Saran Ruchi Ghanashyam Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay T.S.Tirumurti Foreign Secretary Secretary (East) Secretary (West) Secretary (CPV & OIA) Secretary (ER) DEDICATED 9,000 + OFFICERS AND STAFF CONTENTS 8 PM Modi’s diplomatic journey began with Bhutan & EAM Sushma Swaraj visited Bangladesh as her 12 first overseas destination... ENGAGING THE WORLD A-Z DIPLOMATIC MILESTONES Neighbours First First-Ever Visits 32 54 EXPANDING INDIA’S GLOBAL FOOTPRINTS BENEFITS TO Across Continents PEOPLE OF INDIA & Regions Shared Prosperity CONTENTS 74 80 GLOBAL INDIA ON COMMON GOOD TH E GLOBAL STAGE Mutual Proactive & Empowerment Responsible 108 DIPLOMACY WITH A HUMAN FACE Sharing & Caring 120 CULTURE CONNECT 98 Spiritual Bonding SHAPING THG E GLOBAL A ENDA Raising India’s Global Profile 128 MEA’S NEW INITIATIVES Breaking New Ground Engaging the world A-Z A B C bAhrAin CAmbodiA bAnglAdesh AfghAnistAn CAnAdA belArus AlgeriA ChinA belgium AngolA demoCrAtiC republiC of the Congo benin ArmeniA CostA riCA bhutAn AustrAliA Cote d’ivoire brAzil AustriA CroAtiA brunei AzerbAijAn Cyprus CzeCh republiC germAny hungAry ghAnA guAtemAlA G H indonesiA irAn irAq irelAnd isrAel I itAly OUTGOING VISITS FROM INDIA president externAl AffAirs minister viCe-president mos - v.K. singh prime minister mos - m.j. AKbAr 8 Across Hemispheres D E F eCuAdor fiji djibouti egypt finlAnd dominiCAn republiC el sAlvAdor frAnCe demoCrAtiC people’s republiC of KoreA equAtoriAl guineA eritreA estoniA e-swAtini ethiopiA lAos lAtviA lebAnon liberiA lieChtenstein KAzAKhstAn lithuAniA KenyA L luxembourg KuwAit jAmAiCA KyrgyzstAn jApAn jordAn K J 9 Engaging the world A-Z omAn M N O nAmibiA mAdAgAsCAr nepAl mAlAysiA netherlAnds mAldives new zeAlAnd mAli nigeriA mAltA norwAy mAuritius mexiCo mongoliA montenegro moroCCo mozAmbique ugAndA myAnmAr uKrAine TajiKistAn united ArAb emirAtes (uAe) TanzAniA united Kingdom (uK) thAilAnd united stAtes of AmeriCA (us) sAo tome And prinCipe trinidAd And tobAgo uzbeKistAn sAudi ArAbiA tunisiA U senegAl turKey seyChelles T turKmenistAn singApore slovAKiA S sloveniA somAliA south AfriCA south KoreA south sudAn sudAn spAin sri lAnKA surinAme sweden switzerlAnd syriA 10 Across Hemispheres russiA QatAr rwAndA P Q R QatAr pAKistAn Palestine PanAmA pApuA new guineA peru philippines polAnd portugAl zAmbiA yemen VatiCAn City (holy see) venezuelA vietnAm Z V Y 11 DIPLOMATIC MILESTONES first-ever visits Diplomatic Outreach acquired a new vigour and vitality during the four years of the NDA government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This included a string of first-ever visits from India at the level of Heads of State/Heads of Government to many countries, including Israel, Palestine, Mongolia, Portugal, Switzerland, Equatorial Guinea and e-Swatini. Reigniting the spark in friendship with old friends, several high-level visits took place after a gap of ten to sixty years. In sync with its rising global profile, India hosted the first-ever summit of the International Solar Alliance and the largest ever gathering of African leaders on its soil. 12 (left) president ram nath Kovind with djibouti’s president ismail omar guelleh at presidential palace during the first high-level visit from india to djibouti in october 2017. (right) prime minister narendra modi was conferred the ‘grand Collar of the state of palestine’ by president mahmoud Abbas during the first official visit by an indian prime minister to palestine. 13 First Ever NEIGHBOURS FIRST A new beginning... In a first-ever pathbreaking initiative that underscored ‘Neighbours First’ foreign policy vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all leaders of SAARC countries, besides the President of Mauritius, were invited and attended the swearing-in ceremony of the NDA government on May 26, 2014. This was a unique gesture that set the tone for sustained engagement with neighbourhood, which included high-profile visits by PM Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to all the countries in the region, many of which took place after long intervals. 14 15 BILATERAL VISIT BY AN ST INDIAN PM... MoNGolIA SwItzERlANd 16 ISRAEl PAlEStINE PoRtuGAl 17 First-ever visit by an Indian PM to all CENTRAL ASIAN StateS IN SINGLE OVERSEAS TRIP TajIkIStAN KazAkHStAN 18 uzbEkIStAN kyRGyzStAN tuRkMENIStAN 19 INDIA ASCENDING First Indian PM to address the bRItISH In an acknowledgement of India’s rising global graph, parlIAMENt Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given a singular honour by the leaders of the countries he visited, and India was feted and celebrated at various high-profile multilateral and regional fora. 20 First foreign leader to address from the First Indian PM to deliver the keynote address at RoyAl box IN oMAN woRld ECoNoMIC FoRuM 21 FIRST-EVER SUMMITS FIPIC the forum for india-pacific islands Cooperation (fipiC) summit was held for the first time in jaipur in india in August 2015. 22 IAFS-III india-Africa forum summit-iii, for the first time ever, enlarged participation by African countries from 17 to all 54 African countries. iAfs-iii, held in new delhi in october 2015, unveiled a transformative agenda of mutual resurgence. 23 10 ASEAN leaders at Rajpath in a special gesture, the leaders of all 10 AseAn countries participated in india’s republic day celebrations as guests of honour on january 26, 2018. this is the first time all the leaders of a region were invited at the republic day celebrations, which underlined the government’s commitment to the Act east policy. 24 A Place in the Sun india and france partnered in co-hosting the first-ever founding Conference of the international solar Alliance in new delhi on march 11, 2018. the isA summit, in which the leaders and representatives of over 50 countries participated, has forged the largest global coalition of sunshine rich countries to ignite a solar revolution in the world. 25 FIRST INDIA-NORDIC SUMMIT pm modi held india’s first summit with the leaders of five nordic countries in stockholm in April 2018. the first india-nordic summit, attended by sweden, norway, denmark, finland and iceland, culminated in a blueprint for expanding mutually empowering partnership, centered on technology and innovation. 26 VISIT BY AN ST INDIAN PRESIDENT... GHANA CotE d’IvoIRE 27 EquAtoRIAl GuINEA e-SwAtINI djIboutI 28 VISIT BY AN ST INDIAN Vice PRESIDENT... GuAtEMAlA RwANdA HuNGARy PANAMA 29 BRIDGING THE GAP Revitalising India’s diplomatic engagements across continents, many high-level visits from India to over twenty countries took place after a hiatus of ten to sixty years, opening new doors for mutually nourishing partnerships in a wide array of areas. 40-60 30-40 20-30 15-20 10-15 YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS • Ireland • Mozambique • Spain • Kyrgyzstan • Iran • Canada • Philippines • Sri Lanka • Nepal • Kazakhstan • Kenya • Mexico • Vietnam • UAE • Turkmenistan • The Netherlands • Fiji • Sweden • Tajikistan • Seychelles • Oman • Mauritius PROactiVE MEA uS Interactions HoS/HoG/FM Countries External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held 509 interactions with 277 Heads of State/Heads of Government/Foreign Ministers from 166 countries in the last four years, underlining the government’s proactive diplomacy. MoS V. K. Singh visited 56 countries and MoS M. J. Akbar visited 53 countries. vIEtNAM vENEzuElA AuStRAlIA Eu SRI lANkA SoutH AFRICA Expanding india’s global Footprints Across Continents & regions Spanning continents and hemispheres, India’s diplomatic engagement saw an unmatched acceleration in the last four years. there were a record number of high-level incoming and outgoing visits at the level of President, Prime Minister, vice-President, External Affairs Minister and ministers. the country’s top leadership engaged nearly all countries in the world cutting across time zones, which led to a qualitative upgrade in bilateral relationships and enhanced coordination on a range of regional and global issues. In sync with the ancient Indian ethos of ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam,’ this across-the-spectrum diplomatic outreach underlines the NdA government’s commitment to building relationships with countries, big and small, in the spirit of “the world is one family.” 32 PM Modi with US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington in June 2017. (Right) EAM Sushma Swaraj with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow in September 2017. 33 OUTGOING VISITS INCOMING VISITS ¾¾ Algeria ¾¾ Seychelles ¾¾ Democratic ¾¾ Angola ¾¾ Somalia Republic of Congo ¾ ¾¾ Benin ¾¾ South Africa ¾ e-Swatini ¾¾ Egypt ¾¾ Cote d’Ivoire ¾¾ Sudan ¾¾ Ethiopia ¾¾ Democratic Republic ¾¾ South Sudan ¾¾ Equatorial Guinea of Congo ¾¾ Tanzania ¾¾ Gabon ¾¾ Djibouti ¾ Africa ¾ Tunisia ¾¾ Republic of Guinea ¾¾ Egypt ¾ ¾ Uganda ¾¾ Kenya ¾¾ Equatorial Guinea ¾¾ Zambia ¾¾ Mauritius ¾¾ Eritrea SCALING NEW HEIGHTS ¾¾ Mozambique ¾¾ e-Swatini • Multi-faceted India-Africa relations soared to new ¾¾ Rwanda ¾ ¾ Ethiopia heights with the hosting of the Third India-Africa ¾¾ Seychelles ¾¾ Ghana Forum Summit in October 2015 ¾¾ Somalia ¾¾ Kenya • IAFS-III, for the first time ever, brought leaders and ¾¾ Tanzania ¾¾ Liberia representatives