New Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla outlines India's foreign policy priorities

Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 29

The new Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Thursday said his priorities in office would be to build synergies with major powers, connectivity with neighbours and an uncompromising standing on terrorism with all its partners.

Taking office after the retirement of Vijay Gokhale whom he mentioned as a senior he looked up to besides External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Shringla said he was looking forward to working with India’s numerous partners in the international system to enhance developmental and economic linkages.

India, he said, was also looking at sharing an undifferentiated and unambiguous approach to terrorism and the threat it poses to free societies besides sustaining the gains of a rules-based multilateral order.

India has been urging other countries to sign on a pending convention in the UN against international terrorism that seeks to outlaw, without any distinction, state support to any militant organisation and Shringla’s observations indicate that the Indian endeavour in this regard will continue to be pursued. The Foreign Secretary’s reference to “rules based multilateral order’’ indicates India’s backing of UN and WTO norms to govern international behavior.

Shringla also spoke about sharing the Indian developmental experience on priority basis with countries of the global south, especially with Africa and Latin America as well as opening new missions, most of them on these two continents. Several other recent opportunities and challenges related to the cyber domain and emerging technologies will also receive attention. “The MEA fully appreciates the critical nature of these issues for our country and planet,’’ he observed.

In a lighter vein, he said, “I entered the Foreign Service during the Cold War and I am entering the Foreign Secretary’s office at a time when global warming has become a pressing concern.’’

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