Jaishankar highlights India's expanding engagement in Arctic region

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday highlighted India's expanding engagement in polar regions, noting that the country has been active in the Antarctic for over four decades and has recently strengthened its Arctic involvement through a dedicated policy and international collaborations.

Emphasising the importance of the Arctic, Jaishankar said that as one of the world's youngest countries, India's future is closely tied to what happens in the region, which will have global consequences.

Speaking at the Arctic Circle IndiaForum 2025, the Union Minister said, "We have had a growing involvement with the Arctic. We had an even earlier involvement with the Antarctic, which is now more than 40 years. We have come up a few years ago with an Arctic policy. We have agreements with KSAT on Svalbard, which is relevant to our space. As the country with the most young people on this planet, what happens in the Arctic is of extreme importance to us...Given the direction in which things are moving, the consequences are going to be felt not just by us but by the entire world." 

"Given the Arctic's trajectory, its impact will be global, making it everyone's concern. Warming is opening new routes, while technological and resource dimensions are set to reshape the global economy. For India, this matters deeply as our economic growth accelerates," Jaishankar said.

The EAM further said that the Arctic's future is closely tied to global developments, including shifting dynamics within the US political landscape.

"Sharpening geopolitical divides have only heightened the Arctic's global relevance. Arctic's future is inextricably linked to what is happening in the world, including the evolving debates within the US political system," Jaishankar said.

Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Chairman of the Arctic Circle and former President of Iceland, said that India's economic future will depend more and more on access to resources in the Arctic. He urged Indian economists to take this seriously and said that as global politics shift, with China and Russia working together and changing ties between the US and Russia, India's role in the region will be important in shaping what happens next in the Arctic.

"Many Indian economists have yet to recognise that India's economic future will increasingly rely on access to Arctic resources. As India enters a complex geopolitical landscape--with China-Russia collaboration on one side and shifting US-Russia dynamics on the other--how it navigates these forces will be critical in shaping the Arctic's future," Grimsson said.