Discuss the significance of India's relations with the Gulf Countries.
- The Gulf region consist of countries that share the border with Persian Gulf. These are the names of the seven Gulf nations: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Significance of Gulf region for India:
- Potential trade and investment opportunity:
- The Gulf countries offers tremendous potential for cooperation in trade, investment, energy, manpower etc. As India has traditional and friendly relation with all Gulf member states.
- Further, Gulf countries have mutually beneficial complementarities with India in the field of investments which has already started from these countries both through FDI and FII.
- Influence of Indian Diaspora:
- This region hosts nearly 5.5 million Indians who are contributing immensely to the economic development of both India and the countries they reside and work in.
- Nearly 40 % of India’s crude oil import is met from Gulf countries. Gulf region plays a crucial role in India’s energy security and pace of economic growth.
- Potential market for Indian export:
- The Gulf countries provide an excellent market potential for India’s manufactured goods and services, especially in project services exports.
- The traditional relations with Gulf are presently diversifying into security and defence cooperation, and India today has a strong and growing stake in Gulf stability.
- This includes ‘strategic partnerships’ with Gulf countries on issues such as counter-terrorism, money laundering, cyber security, organised crime, human trafficking and anti-piracy.
- All the Gulf states are members of the Indian Navy-conceived Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS).
- Further, India’s most notable (but equally low-key) defence cooperation has been with Oman. India has also played an active role in enhancing the stability and security of the Gulf’s Sea lanes through its participation in anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia.
There is a need for adopting an integrated and cohesive approach, backed by institutional support, to develop ties in the diverse areas like — renewables, water conservation, food security, digital technology and skills development.
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