India hosts Arab foreign ministers to deepen trade and strategic ties

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NEW DELHI (AP) — India hosted a meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Saturday in a concerted push to deepen engagement in trade, energy and strategic cooperation as tensions rise in the Middle East.

India and the United Arab Emirates co-chaired the talks, with foreign ministers and senior officials from all 22 Arab League member states attending. It was the first such gathering in New Delhi that followed a decadelong hiatus since the inaugural forum was held in Bahrain in 2016.

India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in his opening remarks that the global order was undergoing a transformation for a variety of reasons, including conflicts. “Nowhere is this more apparent than in West Asia or the Middle East, where the landscape itself has undergone a dramatic change in the last year. This impacts all of us,” Jaishankar said.

An Indian analyst said New Delhi’s outreach to Arab nations reflected its efforts to position itself as a reliable economic and diplomatic partner at a time of geopolitical rivalries and disruptions to global supply chains.

“This is an effort by India to project a sense of partnership with the Arab world when regional fault lines are sharpening,” said Harsh Pant, vice president of foreign policy at New Delhi-based think tank the Observer Research Foundation.

India’s trade with Arab league countries exceeds $240 billion annually, driven largely by energy imports such as crude oil and liquefied natural gas.