Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Should India Feel Confident?
It seems like a good week for India. She continues to be courted by all the major powers. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was in New Delhi and it seems like everything is ready for India to sign its third nuclear pact with Russia, meaning that India, pursuing a multivector approach, will have deals in place by the end of 2008 with the U.S., France and Russia.
And Japan is going to engage in its largest development project--a $4.5 billion loan to finance the New Delhi-Mumbai freight railway and attendant economic zones. Japan's prime minister Taro Aso also signed a security cooperation pact with Prime Minister Singh.
India also continues to meet the "great power" benchmarks. In a gesture tinged with symbolism of great power status, India is sending a probe to land on the moon. (The Hindu noted, "With the launch, India joined the elite club of moon faring nations -- the US, Russia, European Space Agency, China and Japan.")
And the emergency financial summit in Washington on November 15 is not going to be "just the G-7/G-8" but based around the G-20--India has a seat at this table.
[For reference, the G-20 is: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Britain, the US and the European Union.]
And Japan is going to engage in its largest development project--a $4.5 billion loan to finance the New Delhi-Mumbai freight railway and attendant economic zones. Japan's prime minister Taro Aso also signed a security cooperation pact with Prime Minister Singh.
India also continues to meet the "great power" benchmarks. In a gesture tinged with symbolism of great power status, India is sending a probe to land on the moon. (The Hindu noted, "With the launch, India joined the elite club of moon faring nations -- the US, Russia, European Space Agency, China and Japan.")
And the emergency financial summit in Washington on November 15 is not going to be "just the G-7/G-8" but based around the G-20--India has a seat at this table.
[For reference, the G-20 is: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Britain, the US and the European Union.]
