Learning to lead

Narendra Modi can transform India's multilateral diplomacy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has an extended and hectic period of summitry before him. He has left New Delhi for Myanmar's capital of Naypyidaw to attend the summit between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations, or Asean; the East Asia Summit (EAS), which includes the leaders of the United States and Russia, will follow immediately. The prime minister will then travel to the G20 meeting in Brisbane in Australia. A bilateral meeting with the prime minister of Australia and the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit in Kathmandu round up Mr Modi's travel. These are major meetings. Mr Modi, since taking office in May, has had a series of high-profile bilateral interactions. But other than the BRICS summit very early on in his tenure, there have been no major multilateral meetings. This is, therefore, the point at which the prime minister will have to set down the path that India will take in multilateral organisations. It will not be easy for Mr Modi; as chief minister of Gujarat he travelled widely, and clearly learned the art of charming foreign hosts. But multilateral summitry is another art altogether.

Things have not started propitiously for Mr Modi in the multilateral domain. He missed an important climate summit in New York that was attended by almost all heads of government; only China's and India's leaders were absent. If Mr Modi intended to signal a shift away from standing with China at climate-change talks, as has been subsequently reported, then not attending was a mistake, as it allowed the West to once again bracket India and China as naysayers on climate. On trade, too, the new government essentially shut down the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, reneging on a deal that the previous government had agreed to in Bali last year. Neither of these actions will have suggested to foreign capitals that a new and co-operative spirit has infused New Delhi.

Mr Modi has a chance to turn the atmospherics around. He must seize it. For too long have Indian politicians and diplomats imagined that their primary duty at such multilateral forums is to block agreements out of fear. A more assertive India will perhaps see that there is an opportunity to be proactive at such forums instead, and to lead the search for a solution to various outstanding issues. At the Asean meet, for example, Mr Modi should perhaps break with the timidity shown by the last government when it came to greater co-operation with Southeast Asia. At the G20, Mr Modi must ensure that India takes the lead on exchanging information about tax dodgers, a shared goal at the G20. Unfortunately, it has been reported that India failed to be among the 51 countries to sign the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement in Berlin last fortnight, which would have been an important step towards transparent exchange of financial information. Again, India appeared to be an exception - and indeed to be acting against its own interests, as it has recently on trade and climate change. It is this impression that Mr Modi will hopefully act to change.