A high-wire diplomacy month for India amid packed global engagements

May will be a packed month for India’s diplomatic calendar. New Delhi will host the Brics foreign ministers’ meeting, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected in the national capital for the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will also travel to Nepal, the first visit by a senior Indian official since a new government took office there.

 

The marquee engagement will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s four-nation Europe tour, which includes the India-Nordic Summit and a brief stop in the United Arab Emirates. Modi is expected to make a three-hour stopover in Abu Dhabi in mid-May en route to Europe, where he will meet Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Talks are expected to focus on the West Asia conflict and its implications for India’s energy security. 

 

India has long-term LNG supply agreements with the UAE and Qatar. The discussions come amid heightened regional tensions, with the UAE exposed to fallout from Iranian attacks. Abu Dhabi has also recalibrated its regional positioning, exiting Opec and Opec+ while ties with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have frayed.

 

Key diplomatic engagements in May: 

• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visits Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago from May 2-10
• Vietnam President To Lam to visit from May 5-7
• The Indian Ocean Dialogue, a Track 1.5 forum of the 23-member Indian Ocean Rim Association, will be held in New Delhi on May 7-8, with discussions including the Strait of Hormuz blockade risks
• Brics foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi on May 14–15, including participation by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
• The PM’s tour to the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Italy, along with a visit to Oslo for the third India-Nordic Summit, from May 15-20, including a UAE stopover
• Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides to visit from May 20-23
• Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in India on May 26, hosted by Jaishankar with Rubio and counterparts from Japan and Australia
• India-Africa Summit will be held in New Delhi from May 28-30, along with the Big Cat Alliance Summit