The participation of the head of the Indian government, N. Modi, in the highest BRICS forum in Kazan on October 22-24, 2024, was successful and productive, confirming the significant role of Delhi in solving international affairs.
In addition to actively participating in the summit’s discussions, the head of the Indian government held a number of bilateral meetings on its side-lines, among which negotiations with the President of Russia and the first contact in many years with the President of China were of particular importance. They attracted increased attention given the difficult nature of the relationship between these two key Asian and world powers, which are both close strategic partners of Moscow.
Exchange of views vis-à-vis Ukraine
This was the second meeting of the leaders of Russia and India in Kazan this year, after the official visit of Narendra Modi in Moscow in July. The latest summit confirmed the enduring nature of the particularly privileged strategic partnership relations between the two states. Both sides expressed satisfaction with the pace of growth of relations in various fields, especially noting the increase in bilateral trade turnover to $60 bn, successful cooperation in the nuclear energy and military-technical fields. The upcoming meeting of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation will be of importance for the further expansion of ties. A new summit in 2025 in Delhi was agreed upon.
Ukraine was also discussed, taking into consideration N. Modi’s contacts with Zelensky and Western leaders. Russia reacted with understanding to the efforts of the Indian Prime Minister to resolve the conflict through peaceful political means, and outlined its principled position in this regard. At the same time, the closeness of the approaches of the two countries to solving the Ukrainian issue was noted.
India-China: a breakthrough in the bettering of relations
Of course, the meeting between Indian Prime Minister N. Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping after a long pause was particularly noteworthy. It became possible following bilateral contacts between representatives of various departments over the past months, as a result of which a certain breakthrough was achieved in terms of the border confrontation between the two countries’ armed forces in the mountainous northern area of Indian Kashmir in the areas of the union territory of eastern Ladakh and the Chinese-controlled Aksai Chin, as well as in north-eastern India around the territories of the Indian state of Arunachal-Pradesh.
These long-standing border disputes over the control of almost 60,000 square kilometres in these areas have poisoned relations between the two countries for many decades and have repeatedly led to armed conflict, the last one having taken place in June, 2020, again on the Himalayan border in the Ladakh region. All attempts to reconcile the parties and settle border disputes peacefully have failed, and tensions along the lines of actual control of the undefined borders seriously complicated relations and caused distrust between the two countries.
Neither India nor China accept any third-party mediation and even Moscow’s cautious steps to reconcile these countries within the framework of RIC (Russia, India, China) were rejected by partners. Preference was given to solving problems strictly on a bilateral basis, but until recently there had been no serious contacts between the parties. Therefore, the recent agreements on mutual patrolling along the line of actual control in the disputed area in Ladakh and the withdrawal and return of the armed forces of the parties to their former locations have helped to ease tensions surrounding the disputed areas and created certain conditions for dialogue at the highest political level.
The BRICS summit in Kazan turned out to be a favourable and convenient platform in this regard. After almost 5 years, the parties decided to resume contacts at the highest level. It is difficult to say who initiated this meeting – apparently the decision was mutual – but it certainly has important geopolitical significance. During the meeting on October 23, 2024, the leaders of the countries welcomed the recent border agreements and agreed to continue contacts between the parties to reach mutually acceptable solutions to the territorial dispute. Solving this problem, as well as strengthening bilateral cooperation, were acknowledged as being important for security and stability not only in the region, but also for the world as a whole. Both leaders announced their intention to continue the dialogue to bring relations to a higher level.
Let us hope that contacts and a warming in the bilateral dialogue will lead to real results and a course to strengthen the partnership of the two leading global powers will be undertaken. Russia is sincerely interested in this process and is happy that the resumption of this dialogue, which is extremely important for the whole world, was taken in Kazan within the framework of BRICS.
Anvar Azimov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Senior Scientific Researcher at the Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs (MGIMO), exclusively for the online magazine «New Eastern Outlook»
