In order to deepen engagement of Government with the Arab world and strengthen ties with the West Asian countries, External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj is in Bahrain to attend the first ministerial level meeting of the India-Arab league Cooperation Forum (IAlCF).
The India-Arab league ministerial meeting scheduled for Sunday comes over a year after the two sides held their first Senior Officials Meeting in November 2014. The second official level meeting, attended by Secretary (East) Anil Wadhwa, took place on Friday.
Sources said Swaraj is expected to outline India's vision of engagement with the Arab World during the meeting. Besides, the Foreign Minister level meeting will also touch upon several crucial issues and challenges confronting the world at present.
These include terrorism and growing footprints of ISIS, regional security and tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran which has lead to both severing diplomatic ties. India has expressed serious concerns at the growing sectarian tensions in the region due to current tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Besides, the armed conflict in Syria leading to serious refugee and humanitarian crisis are also other area of concern for India which has a strong trading partnership with Gulf countries.
On terrorism India's concerns rise from the fact that easy mobility of extremists and rising number of foreign jihadis in the region has increased fears of the possibility of spread of radicalism. India fears that the fragile peace and security situation in the region has the potential of spill over to other parts of the world.
India's trade with most of the Arab countries has been on a rise. The annual trade partnership is to the tune of 180 billion dollars. In fact, the Gulf region accounts for over 60% of India's oil and gas requirement. It is also a major source for phosphate and fertilizers. Partnership with the Arab world is crucial for India not only from the view of food and energy security but also for the financial point of view given the fact India's highest amount of remittances come from its diaspora living in the Gulf countries.
Swaraj's visit to Bahrain comes barely a week after she visited Palestine. In fact, Swaraj has visited five Arab league countries -- Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Palestine - ever since in office. Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the UAE last year apart from hosting Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in March 2015. The National Security Advisor Ajit Doval too has made several trips to the Gulf countries to discuss security and terrorism issues.
India-Arab league Cooperation Forum is active since 2013 and already two meetings at official level of IAlCF have taken place under the present NDA government. India has been engaging with the Arab countries at the commercial level as well. However, this is the first time the forum meeting is taking place at the Foreign Minister level. Official sources said that government has decided to make this first ministerial meeting a routine exercise now on by holding consultations with the Arab league partners every alternate year.
The 22-member Arab league comprises of Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, lebanon, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, libya, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait, Algeria, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Mauritania, Somalia, Palestine, Djibouti, and Comoros.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Swaraj held bilateral meetings with her Bahraini counterpart Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and the Foreign Ministers of a number of Arab league countries.