External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday on a two-day visit to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting. This is the first meeting of India-GCC foreign ministers in which emphasis will be laid on increasing strategic and economic partnership. During the Saudi visit, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar also held bilateral meetings with the GCC foreign ministers. Reaction is also being seen from Pakistan regarding the participation of the Foreign Minister in the GCC.
The Gulf Cooperation Organization is an organization of six Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. Regarding the India-GCC meeting, former Pakistani diplomat Abdul Basit, who was the High Commissioner to India, has said that this is a great success for India.
He said in a video, ‘Ever since Narendra Modi came to India, he has increased relations with the Gulf countries in a very systematic way and hence today we see that the number of Indians living in these countries has also increased to around 80-90 lakhs.’
In March 2022, data released by the Ministry of External Affairs said that out of 1.34 crore Indians living abroad (NRIs), 66% live in Gulf countries. The ministry had said that more than 88.8 lakh Indians are living in 6 Gulf countries.
‘India never accepted defeat…’
On the increasing number of Indians in Gulf countries and the influence of India’s foreign policy in these countries, Abdul Basit further said, ‘India never accepted defeat… Diplomacy is a process, not an event. In such a situation, it has been a great success of PM Modi that relations with GCC, especially with UAE and Saudi, were enhanced. And now the first meeting of the foreign ministers of India and Gulf countries is taking place, so it is a big success for him.’
Abdul Basit further said that this meeting is also important for India because in this India will try to keep the GCC countries away from the OIC (Organization of 57 Islamic countries – Organization of Islamic Cooperation), especially from issues like Kashmir.
‘India may insist on joining OIC’
The Pakistani diplomat said that during the meeting, India can once again insist on joining the OIC. Saudi Arabia is considered the most influential member of the OIC and the headquarters of the organization is also in the Saudi city of Jeddah. Gulf countries like UAE, Qatar also hold an important place in the organization and India is increasing its relations with all these countries.
According to the 2021 census, there are 20 crore Muslims in India and India is the third largest country in the world in terms of Muslim population. In view of this, India had once tried to join the OIC.
In the year 2019, the then Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj was invited as ‘Guest of Honor’ to the OIC meeting held in UAE. During this, Sushma Swaraj advocated India’s inclusion in the OIC. Pakistan boycotted the meeting in protest against India’s inclusion in the OIC.
Abdul Basit said, ‘During the GCC meeting, India will try to get the member countries to speed up its inclusion in the OIC, first make it an observer country and then give it full membership.’
‘India can garner support for full membership in the United Nations’
Abdul Basit speculated about the meeting that during this time Jaishankar would like the member countries to support India’s permanent membership in the United Nations. Only 5 countries, America, Russia, China, Britain and France, have permanent membership in the United Nations. Despite being the most populous country in the world, India has not got full membership.
Praising India’s foreign policy, Abdul Basit finally said that hopefully, Pakistan will also do something similar.
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