Beyond Bilateralism: India–Arab Engagement Enters a Strategic Phase

When India hosts the second India–Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (IAFMM) in New Delhi on 31 January 2026, it will do more than revive a long-dormant diplomatic forum. After a gap of nearly a decade, the meeting signals India’s steady repositioning in the Arab world - from a largely transactional partner to a more consequential strategic interlocutor.

The long pause between the first and second IAFMM reflects how dramatically the regional and global environment has changed. Arab states have spent the past decade navigating political uncertainty after the Arab Spring, regional conflicts, and ambitious programmes of economic diversification. India, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies with expanding diplomatic, commercial, and security interests in West Asia. The renewed meeting underlines a shared recognition that episodic engagement is no longer adequate.

The IAFMM has identified five priority areas—political coordination, trade and investment, energy security, food security, and people-to-people ties, offering a practical framework for cooperation. These priorities highlight mutual dependence. For Arab states facing food supply vulnerabilities and energy transition challenges, India offers scale, technological capability, and reliable markets. For India, the Arab region remains vital for energy supplies, investment flows, and maritime and trade connectivity.

Economic ties anchor the relationship. India–Arab trade has crossed USD 200 billion annually, though hydrocarbons still dominate. The Gulf region alone accounts for more than 60 per cent of India’s crude oil imports, underlining its strategic importance. Yet both sides acknowledge that energy dependence cannot remain the sole pillar. Renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, information technology, infrastructure, food processing, and logistics offer clear opportunities for diversification. India’s manufacturing push aligns closely with the Arab world’s long-term development strategies, particularly in the Gulf.

A notable change in recent years is the Arab world’s growing willingness to engage India independently of India–Pakistan relations. Economic opportunity and strategic autonomy, rather than regional rivalries, increasingly shape Arab approaches to South Asia. Notwithstanding Saudi’s long standing defence ties with Pakistan, Riyadh has demonstrated a clear willingness to engage India on its own terms, reflecting a broader recalibration in Gulf strategic thinking. This shift mirrors India’s rising economic weight and the broader recalibration underway in Arab foreign policies.

Political momentum for this transformation was built during Sushma Swaraj’s tenure as External Affairs Minister (2014–2019). Her diplomacy played a critical role in reconfiguring India’s engagement with the Islamic world, overcoming decades of hesitation and informal exclusion. Through sustained outreach, high-level visits, and a strong emphasis on diaspora welfare, India began to be seen as a credible and autonomous partner rather than a peripheral actor in West Asia.

The Indian diaspora across Arab states remains a central pillar of the relationship. Nearly nine million Indians live and work in the region, contributing significantly to host economies and sending back remittances estimated at USD 50 billion annually. Beyond economics, the diaspora deepens people-to-people ties and provides stability by embedding the relationship in everyday social and commercial interactions.

This momentum has been sustained under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose outreach to Arab capitals has further strengthened political trust. Strategic partnerships, regular high-level exchanges, and cooperation in areas such as counter-terrorism and emerging technologies have helped reposition India as a long-term stakeholder in the region’s stability and development.

India’s domestic context also shapes its Arab outreach. As home to the world’s third-largest Muslim population, India occupies a distinctive position in engaging Arab and Islamic countries. While not a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), India’s expanding engagement with Islamic forums reflects an aspiration to be recognised as an inclusive and credible interlocutor. Internal peace and communal harmony remain essential to sustaining that credibility.

The second IAFMM, therefore, is more than a diplomatic event. Convened on 31 January 2026, it marks the consolidation of a maturing India–Arab partnership grounded in strategic convergence, economic pragmatism, and societal ties—one likely to gain greater relevance in an increasingly uncertain global order.

The writer teaches Political Science at GDC Bijbehara