Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, made it clear recently that the much-awaited counter-offensive of his nation against Russia has begun. With this, the war in Ukraine has entered a new phase: some are anticipating a dangerous escalation while others view this as an opportunity to start a negotiating process to bring some sort of conclusion to the conflict.
For New Delhi, the costs of overdependence on a single nation for defence requirements are obvious with a recalibration likely to produce new defence engagement
Perhaps in that spirit and in the presence of Pistorius, Germany’s ThyssenKrupp AG and India’s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly bid for constructing submarines for the Indian Navy. Though the German Defence Minister reiterated that the process relating to the proposed procurement of six submarines is not yet complete, he strongly pitched for the German industry to be at a "good place" in the race for the contract. He was also categorical that "this would be a big and important contract, not only for German industry but also for India and the Indian-German strategic partnership".
In an unanticipated move, New Delhi has decided to host the 23rd Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) virtually on July 4, 2023, rather than in person. India, the current chair of the eight-member grouping, has also invited the three Observer States and the heads of six regional and international organisations to participate in the summit hosted by prime minister Narendra Modi. Since assuming the rotating presidency at the historical city of Samarkand last year, New Delhi used its diplomatic capital to host 134 events, including 14 ministerial-level meetings to pursue the often-blurred regional collaboration and cooperation agenda of this divergent and antagonistic grouping. However, the decision to host the annual summit online has indicated India’s disappointment with what is increasingly emerging as a fragmented grouping being used by China to pursue its hegemonic interests.
By visiting China in 2008, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also called Prachanda, became the first Prime Minister to break the tradition of Nepalese premiers choosing India as their maiden destination of visit. Fast forward to June 2023, Mr Prachanda not only chose India to be his first destination but also expressed contentment with his four-day visit, dubbing it an “astounding success”. The recent visit indicates that India and Nepal are moving beyond their fraught phase and taking this “hit” relationship to “Himalayan Heights.” During these four days, both countries prioritised convergences over divergences – they signed five projects and six MoUs. Areas such as hydropower electricity, connectivity, and people-to-people relations remained the centre of this fruitful engagement.
The G-7 Hiroshima Summit is the first hosted by Tokyo, Japan since the 2008 summit and comes at a time when the world is faced with enervating challenges such as the war in Ukraine, the threat of nuclear proliferation, rapidly transpiring impacts of climate change, economic security, unstable supply chains and the impact and regulation of sensitive technologies.