ANA PALACIO
Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the first official foreign visit of the commission in her second term would be to India. On the same day, Marco Rubio held his first bilateral meeting as US Secretary of State with India’s minister of external affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Washington last week confirmed his country’s rising international profile. The visit ended with the promise of what Modi called a US-India “mega partnership.” As part of that partnership, he has committed to double trade with the US by 2030, increase oil and gas imports, and expand US military sales to India.
India is the world’s most populous country, home to more than 1.4 billion people with a median age of 29.8 years, compared to 38.9 in the United States, 40.2 in China, and 44.5 in the European Union. This massive and relatively young population, together with a large and fast-growing information and communications technology (ICT) sector, is supporting an economic boom: India is now the fastest-growing major economy, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting a 6.5% increase in GDP this year. India is expected to overtake Japan and Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030.
Despite its vast potential, India has long been overlooked by the West, both economically and geopolitically. But a fundamental global realignment is now underway. America’s “unipolar moment” has given way to an era of great-power competition that, unlike during the Cold War, features demands by emerging and developing economies for a more inclusive and representative multilateral system. In this multipolar age, both the US and Europe see India – a neutral foreign-policy actor and dynamic emerging economy – as vital to the future of their strategic priorities.
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