Jaishankar on managing India's relations with neighbours: ‘Not easy’

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that managing India’s relationships with its neighbouring countries is difficult due to historical context, the size of these nations and sociological differences.

“We recognize today that given our history, given the size of the neighbours, given the sociology of our neighbours and of ourselves, these are not easy relationships to manage,” said Jaishankar.

He said that political ups and downs are common among many of India’s neighbours and that stirring sentiments about India is often an easy way out . These are realities that must be accepted, he said.

“We also need to appreciate today we have more resources, more capabilities. We are geographically at the centre. Our size is so much bigger," said Jaishankar.

“If you look today at our neighbours, in many cases we have powrergrids. We even have powerplants. We are exporting or importing energy. We have fuel pipelines, roads, rail, waterway connections. We have tried to proof the relationship against political ups and down,” he added.

He remarked that there have been instances where India has become a political issue in some neighbouring countries, but it has successfully managed to mitigate intense situations through effective measures.

India has demonstrated its capability to assert its interests, compete with other countries, and often surpass them in resources and performance.

On June 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the world is closely watching India as its policies, commitment, determination, decisions, and investments are becoming the foundation for global progress.

“We achieved independence as a poor nation and those who wished to exploit us did so until the very end. In 100 years after overcoming numerous challenges and meeting our goals, India will mark its 100th year of independence as a developed country in 2047,” said Narendra Modi at the CII post-Budget conference in Delhi.

Source: Hindustan Times