India

India has never been more invested in the West Asian region. As such, how this plays out will have an enormous impact on India’s external strategy. That the US has rekindled its commitment to West Asia would be welcomed, with a prayer that this survives any hypothetical transition in January 2025. On the other hand, fear of a larger regional conflict is a nightmare. Should it occur, it will have its bearing on India’s aspirations.

India’s manufacturing economy is undergoing a historic transition as the country emerges as a global hub for electronics production. Given the geopolitical and economic backdrop, policymakers have set an ambitious target of expanding this sector’s output to $300 billion by mid-2026.

Strictly speaking, IMEEC is not a corridor. A corridor implies goods travelling from a source to a market over a vast territory that contributes a pathway but no significant value addition. BRI is such a corridor. It is essentially a one-nation narrative – that of Chinese manufacturing seeking market access in distant countries. In contrast,

“What Modi has demonstrated, and what the U.S. is leaning into, is a leader who is willing to make bets on the future of the country,” Nirav Patel, the chief executive of the Asia Group and deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific under President Barack Obama, said in an interview. “The diplomatic as well as political stability that Modi enjoys allows this relationship to be more fruitful, and Biden has leaned into that.”

Space and space exploration have “always evoked a lot of interest in Prime Minister Modi personally,” he said.