India’s Non-aligned approach with the Gulf/Arab countries and energy imports

Amid the conflicts prevailing within the Arab-Israel nations, India has been successful in maintaining a balanced relation with these nations. India has to maintain diplomatic ties with the Arab nations because it is relied on these nations for oil and security/defense. By maintaining the balanced political relationship, it is making sure that any turmoil in the Gulf region does not affect the oil imports. The political strategy adopted by India in case of the Gulf/Arab countries is remarkable. The most talked about event of 2017 globally was the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel, since India always had a pro-Palestine policy this was the first step towards a friendship or trade relations with Israel. After the visit, it can clearly be seen that India has formed a strategic alliance with both the countries without affecting either countries. It is believed that India continues to have traditional support to the Palestinian cause. Its support for Palestine has not deterred its growing relationship with Israel.  India sees the importance of all the Gulf/Arab countries and believes in not choosing sides between countries due to its high dependence on each Gulf/Arab countries for oil and security. India has adopted this strategy since the cold war era when it provided a way out to countries not wanting to choose between former Soviet Union and United States of America by giving out the policy of Non-Alignment. India is maintaining a diplomatic political relationship with these countries in order to meet its national interest of importing oil and creating a stronger defense India chooses to perform silently with each country in the region. In light of recent crisis between Qatar and other Arab nation, India has not shared its opinion yet; this might be because India is the biggest importer of LNG gas from Qatar. On the other hand, India has strengthened its ties with Saudi Arabia, Iran, U.A.E. and Israel both politically and economically. However, in June 2017 Sushma Swaraj, India’s Minister of External Affairs mentioned that the ongoing conflicts in the region will have no implications on India. . In my opinion India with respect to Gulf/Arab nations has always tried to avoid conflict due to the trade relations with the countries in the region. The Arab/Gulf nations are the biggest supplier of Oil, Natural gas, arms and ammunition and other similar products. It might be because of the long going conflicts and uncertainty within this region that India is looking for alternate sources. For instance, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) recently inaugurated the TAPI pipeline for exporting natural gas from Turkmenistan to India via Afghanistan and Pakistan. India’s oil imports from African countries like Nigeria has rose marginally. However, the Gulf/Arab nations are still the biggest suppliers of Oil and natural gas. India might be looking for alternate resources to import oil and natural gas but the domestic demand is still increasing. India has invested more than a billion dollars for Mongolia’s oil exploration so as to bring in more oil from the Asian continent. Ever since there have been crisis in Middle east and Venezuela import of oil has been a very expensive affair.