India has stepped up engagement with four strategically and economically important partners around the same time, with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval's Beijing visit, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's Moscow visit, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Canada-US visit and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's Japan tour.
Taken together, the priorities span border management, energy security, investment, technology and manufacturing. Their timing is notable. India will host the BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12-13, where Russian President Vladimir Putin is confirmed to attend, while Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend.
With China, boundary talks now sit alongside discussions on investment. With Russia, the focus includes energy, fertilisers and a growing trade imbalance. In Japan, Goyal sought investment and manufacturing partnerships, while Sitharaman is meeting investors and financial companies in Canada.
