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Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Mani Shankar Aiyar underlined the need to make the Iran-India pipeline through Pakistan a reality as early as possible to enhance India¿s energy security. He was speaking at the release function of an Observer Research Foundation book ¿India¿s Energy Security Prospects--which deals with the issue of India¿s energy security and the prospects for cooperation with its extended neighbourhood
The region need to response to the unfolding migrant crisis in the Andaman Sea. India and the Indian Navy must move quickly with other regional players to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis in the Bay of Bengal.
A roundtable at the ORF Campus at New Delhi held on 14 January made an attempt to look at the future of India and China in 2025. The session was chaired by Ambassador MK Rasgotra, President, ORF and moderated by Jim Yardley, New Delhi Bureau Chief of the New York Times.
In many ways, Bangladesh seems an excellent place for al-Qaeda to find sanctuary in the decisive years ahead. It is an impoverished Islamic nation, politically weak and backward in its economic development. Its ports have been active hubs for transnational crime, including weapons running.
New Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's emphasis on political moderation and ending Iran's isolation is drawing attention to the potential reconciliation between Tehran and some of its Arab Gulf neighbours. He has also raised hopes for a productive engagement between Tehran and the West.
Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Berlin organised a conference on "Fragmentation in a Democracy: The Role of Social Movements and the Media". Here is a report.
The removal of Prof. Muhammad Yunus from the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh has left a dent on the image of the Awami League Government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, both at home and overseas.
FOR all those following the developments in Nepal, the King¿s coup, has not come as a surprise. Notable, however, is the sweep and sting of the King¿s action.
By all accounts, the meeting between Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf and the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in New York appears to have gone off quite well.
Instead of shutting down its jihadi factories ten years ago, Pakistan's leaders nurtured them selectively and today, their proteges have come to haunt them. They can still be shut down, but will need an honest Pakistani appreciation of its predicament.
India will need to invest in a resilient information infrastructure, and 2021 would hopefully see relevant and scientific information being a catalyst
A depreciated rupee may be good for the economy as it can aid in boosting exports.
Much depends on the corporate sector and how it uses the money saved from tax to increase investment, which will help create jobs that will in turn in
Russia's troubles are unlikely to vanish soon. With the Central Bank forecasting a 4.5 per cent drop in GDP in 2015, a downgrade is a certainty. The budget deficit, forecast to be larger than 0.6 per cent of GDP in 2015, will prove to be another cause of misery.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's official visit (May 11) to Russia is interesting especially as it occurred within a fortnight of the US raid in Abbottabad, killing Osama bin Laden.
What is interesting for Russia is how greater cooperation with Iran will affect its ties with other Middle Eastern nations, such as both Saudi Arabia and Israel, which has been a vocal opponent of a nuclear deal with Iran. Israel however does not occupy a special position in Russia's foreign relations as it does for the United States.
As Russia embraces China to relieve the pressures from the West, India's room for geopolitical manoeuvre in Asia and beyond is bound to shrink. Earlier, though both India and Russia had begun to normalise bilateral relations with China in the 1980s, they remained wary about Beijing.
The war in Syria, the alleged use of chemical weapons by its President, Bashar al-Assad, a Russian ally, has turned out to be a perfect opportunity for Putin to reassert the role of Russia, 21 years after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Despite efforts, Indo-Russian nuclear engagement has been limited, mainly because of two factors. One, there is an unstable status of legal framework for the transfer of nuclear technology and second, India's efforts to diversify nuclear partners have been a little upsetting for Russia.
Russia has been dealing with extremism within its borders for several years. So it is not exactly unprepared for whatever threat ISIL currently poses. However, there is a degree of complacency that has set in.
While Russia is aware of Islamabad's role in fomenting international terrorism, it realises that any successful resolution of the problems associated with Afghanistan must involve Pakistan. A cancelled presidential visit cannot change the relevance of this, or of Russia's goal, in enhancing ties with Pakistan.
At a time when it is facing Western sanctions and a proxy war on oil prices, Russia sprang a huge surprise early this month by signing a gas deal with Turkey. The deal will enable Russia to pump natural gas into a Turkish hub, near the Turkey-Greece border and from there into the southern EU market.
The Syrian rebels are not back to square one, but to minus one. They have been outsmarted by the Assad regime, just as the Russians outsmarted the Americans.
While Russia has been very careful of not antagonising China, which has emerged as Moscow's second largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific, Beijing is uncomfortable by the nature of Moscow's involvement in Hanoi.
Humanity depends heavily on the various benefits that nature provides us. It's impossible to truly estimate its value. However, economists and environmental scientists have estimated in dollars what it would cost us to accomplish the services nature provides. Using multiple databases, they estimate that nature provides $33 trillion dollars worth of services every year¿that's nearly twice the annual Gross National Product (GNP) of all the countri
If the Indian government appropriately leverages Russia's goodwill, Russian Far East could turn out to be a growth area for Indian business. Innovatively implemented, India's ties with the Russian Far East could help cement Indo-Russian relations as well as bolster its ties with Central Asia and East Asia.
Given its vast coastline, Delhi should devote its attention for now to importing hydrocarbons by sea, investing in equity oil in Russia and other energy-rich countries, and concluding swap arrangements rather than grandiose transregional pipelines.
At a time when the global system is in flux, BRICS members have found it relevant to continue to explore areas of cooperation, especially as the new w
Africa has become essential to Russia’s geostrategic posture as Moscow seeks to overcome the backlash to its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, in the face of isolation and a contracting economy, Russia has realised that cultivating an entry point in Africa through conventional means such as foreign direct investment (FDI), trade, development assistance, or cultural and educational exchanges may not be its best option. Instead, Mosc
SAARC conjures up an image of jamborees and no results. The South Asian Association of Regional cooperation with its seven members ( India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh) remains one of the most dysfunctional trade blocs and there is hardly any freedom of movement of goods, services and people. The next (13th) SAARC summit is going to be held in Dhaka in the beginning of January 2005.
India has said that the regional efforts to counter terrorism in South Asia continue to face significant challenges though there are various SAARC frameworks on suppression of terrorism since 1987.
The SAARC energy agreement signed may have given some hope for the realisation of energy cooperation in South Asia. But, it needs to be understood that an overarching agreement has little impact on project-based cooperation, owing to the centrality of India in the South Asian geography.
Amb M Rasgotra, International Affairs Adviser, Observer Research Foundation, and former Foreign Secretary of India, was invited as Chief Guest at the Convocation of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lnaka, held on June 23, 2005. The complete text of his Convocation Address is reproduced below:
The 17th SAARC Summit was held at Addu Atoll, Maldives on the 10th and 11th of November 2011. The venue, in the words of the Bhutanese Prime Minister, reflected the vastness of South Asia.
Despite SAARC's failures of the past, the repeated declarations by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the need to reinvigorate ties with neighbouring states have created a renewed interest in the possibilities of multilateral cooperation under SAARC.
The 17th SAARC Summit, held on 10-11 November at Addu City in Maldives, will be remembered for three things - for the inspiring speech of the outgoing Chair,
In context of SAARC, the reality of the situation demands that India handles Pakistan separately. India also has to approach the rest of SAARC neighbours with a more accommodative mind-set. Such mind-sets cannot be confined to sharing history and culture, economic prosperity and development-spending.
Hard-nosed realists around the world are impressed with Modi's diplomatic flair seen during his visits to Nepal and Japan. But they ask if Modi can go beyond the atmospherics and bring about a substantial change in the relationship with China. Here again, Modi has the opportunity to introduce change.
Within a fortnight of the death of Osama bin Laden, news came of the appointment of a senior al Qaeda leader, Saif Al-'Adl, as the interim chief, indicating clearly an internal tussle for the leadership of the global terrorist group, raising, in the process,
The buzzword across three principal Asian countries � India, China and Japan � is 'reform'. While the test for China is tough enough, the challenge for India is far tougher. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has promised "the most drastic reforms since the end of the Second World War".
Observer Research Foundation (ORF) organised a brainstorming session on "Possible Approaches for India's policy towards Myanmar" on October 18, 2007. The meeting discussed a gamut of issues including India's Myanmar policy, sanction regime, the China factor, Myanmar's political transition, and international community's response to the recent uprising in Myanmar.
To understand the different aspects of the Iranian nuclear programme and its impact on the region, especially India, Observer Research Foundation, in collaboration with the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), organised a workshop on March 4, 2013.
