Jaishankar Highlights Economic Diplomacy as Key to India's National Development and Security

Mumbai: A focus on ecomic diplomacy has become one of key changes in Indian foreign policy which is w fundamentally purposed to serve national development and security, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at an event here on Sunday. In his keyte dress at silver jubilee celebrations of itya Birla Group's scholarship programme in Mumbai, he said India's appetite to explore world has also grown, be it in tourism, education or work possibilities.

"This deeper link between external world and our national endeavours offers us crucial opportunities to accelerate path towards a Viksit Bharat. In fact, we take it so seriously that I can declare that foreign policy w has fundamentally purposed to vancing national development, apart from ensuring national security," Jaishankar said.

two goals are of course closely linked, he said.

"refore, much of our diplomacy is dedicated towards promoting exports, attracting investments, sourcing best practices, identifying techlogies and expanding tourism," external affairs minister said, ding cumulative impact is to increase employment opportunities at home.

He said that re are different ways of achieving se objectives and most basic is to "promote Indian brand and strengn international confidence in partnering with us".

"Given diversity of our country, it is necessary to do that at a state level as well," Jaishankar ded. ting that it is business attraction that drives foreign investors and potential projects, he said ir inclinations are usually strengned by a favourable enabling environment and a more granular understanding of India's plans.

Techlogy flows and best practices are also painstaking two-way exercises that require both ends to appreciate ir full potential, he said.

"This focus on ecomic diplomacy has, in fact, become one of key changes in our foreign policy in contemporary times. international situation is also ripe today for more strenuous efforts in that direction. Covid experience brought home to world dangers of depending on a limited geography," Jaishankar said.

"Our interactions with world and interests in it have grown proportionately... world is today increasingly appreciating India story," he ded.

external affairs minister also said, "Today re is a perceptible interest in engaging with us, reflected in stey flow of high-profile visitors and businesses. Our own very appetite to explore world has also grown, be it in tourism, education or work possibilities." “As we enter era of AI (artificial intelligence), who captures, processes and deploys your data is of utmost importance," he said.

Data privacy and cyber security are consequently paralleling reliable supply chains as a global priority. That manufacturing and data are also more deeply fused is yet ar reality to be taken into account, Jaishankar stated.

"So, in this scenario, India has an opportunity to board manufacturing bus that we missed to some extent in past. It is incumbent on us to develop logistics, infrastructure and business environment to promote greater industrial production," he said.

Stating that nation can truly develop in a unidimensional manner, and large ones, in particular, like India, he said, "We must have some basic self-sufficiency." "That is why we speak of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Orwise, in an era of weaponised ecomics, we leave ourselves seriously open to vulnerabilities," Jaishankar remarked.

According to him, India currently faces two big challenges ahe -- " scale of our producers and limits of our techlogy -- both are changing with each passing year and are indeed interlinked in many ways". For Bharat to rise, he said, it must develop deep techlogy strengths and create capacity to research, to design and to invate, and that will only happen when manufacturing expands and industrial culture strikes deep roots.

"After all, we must be safeguarded from unfair competition during that process, especially if y could have a strategic intent. Global engment cant be argued on narrow ecomic merits alone without any regard to its social and national security consequences. Indeed, that is one of takeaways from recent developments in United States," Jaishankar ded. 

(Except for heline, this story has t been edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed.)