This is not the ‘sanctions’ Singh whose last trip to India in 2022 created a stir when he talked of ‘consequences’ for countries that defied anti-Russia sanctions but a kinder, gentler Singh whose views seem to have evolved over the last two years. ‘India has every right to make its own choices on energy supply and its strategic posture more broadly. I hope over the course we can offer a better alternative and superior value proposition than Moscow whether on energy or defence or anything else,” Singh said in an exclusive interview to ET.
‘The effort has to be paired with patient, consistent diplomacy that respects India’s place in the world. That is the spirit in which I am taking this trip’, he added. ‘Sanctions work only if they are sustainable. It may have felt good to do maximum shock and awe but it’s not in our strategic interest if it fractures the global financial system or if we are alone,’ he said. In an interconnected global economy, the spillover could be ‘spectacular’ and could harm friends such as India, he noted.
If his first visit was mostly about warnings and explaining the ‘mechanism of sanctions’, his second trip is more reflective of the all-encompassing nature of the relationship. He is the latest high-level visitor in the continuing US-India engagement which is expected to intensify before the US elections.
Singh will meet fellow G-20 sherpa, Amitabh Kant, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, and business leaders to discuss deeper collaboration in key areas including AI, biotech, semiconductors and clean energy. He will also talk about Chinese overcapacity which undercuts and suffocates producers in other countries, including in India. China provides huge subsidies to companies to overproduce and ‘lock in market power,’ Singh said. It’s a serious concern in both capitals.
The talks, which begin Wednesday, will focus on how to reduce vulnerabilities and benefit from each other’s comparative advantages, ‘We need an unsentimental assessment of where our strategic interests converge to anchor our relationship in a turbulent world. We share the same diagnosis, the same set of rules, the same vision’, Singh said.
