Earlier, because of resource constraints, lack of vision and bureaucratic neglect, smaller countries were seen as ‘afterthoughts’, and not partners.
New Delhi: The five-day India visit by the President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, commemorating the completion of 76 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, underscored the broader vision behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to engage with smaller states and regions that were previously deemed less significant in India’s foreign policy calculus.
PM Modi’s recent visits to Thailand and Sri Lanka are also a well thought out engagement with mid-sized and small states, enhancing India’s regional clout, countering emerging threats, and projecting soft power while securing economic and strategic gains.
The recent engagements are being seen as perfect examples of the “multi-alignment” philosophy that India has been following. Thailand’s close ties with the United States and China have not deterred India’s engagement, nor has Sri Lanka’s balancing act with China.
This approach—spearheaded by PM Modi and executed with finesse by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar—represents a paradigm shift that could have profound implications for India’s global standing in the coming years. This shift is not an accidental development, but a deliberate strategy to connect with overlooked nations across continents, from the Pacific Islands to the Caribbean, Africa to Central Asia, and beyond, say experts.
Before 2014, India’s foreign policy was often reactive and narrowly focused—prioritizing immediate neighbours (often through the lens of security concerns like Pakistan and China), major powers (the US, Russia, EU), and a handful of strategic partners tied to historical or economic heft.
Smaller states, regardless of their potential, were rarely on the radar unless they fit into these buckets.
This left vast swathes of the world—small island nations, microstates, and less prominent countries—on the margins of India’s diplomatic engagement, which led to missed opportunities, allowing other countries making space there, despite India being more welcomed since non-expansionism and mutual cooperation are its cornerstone.
PM Modi’s tenure, starting in 2014, introduced a more expansive and proactive outlook. The idea behind this was rooted in a few key principles: leveraging India’s soft power (including its diaspora), countering global influence of inimical powers, securing economic and strategic interests, and positioning India as a leader of the Global South.
Officials point to India starting the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) in 2014, which is now regarded as a game-changer on how India has taken the lead and made an impact.
Countries like Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga—once peripheral—now see regular summits (e.g., FIPIC-III in 2023) and aid projects in health, education, and climate resilience.
According to observers, these initiatives are not just limited to goodwill; it’s about securing India’s stake in the Indo-Pacific and countering the dominance of the Pacific by any one country.
Another example of this change in outlook since 2014 are Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname, who despite having an Indian diaspora, were culturally linked but diplomatically dormant.
PM Modi’s outreach—via summits like India-CARICOM in 2019 and bilateral visits—has boosted trade (e.g., energy deals with Guyana) and strategic ties, amplifying India’s voice in the western hemisphere.
“Now when these countries are presented with choices and preferences at international events, they keep the goodwill and the ties that they have developed with India in the last one decade,” a diplomat of a South American country, which has close ties to the Caribbean told The Sunday Guardian.
An analysis of documents of the Ministry of External Affairs shows how India, moving beyond “big” players like Nigeria and South Africa, is now engaging with Seychelles, Mauritius, and Comoros for maritime security in the Indian Ocean, and Rwanda or Gambia for development partnerships.
PM Modi’s 10 guiding principles for Africa (announced in July 2018, while addressing the Ugandan Parliament) emphasised inclusivity, pulling these nations into India’s orbit and has since come to be regarded as one of the pivots that India needed to strengthen its ties with the African nations.
Similarly, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan were once footnotes in India’s Russia-centric Central Asia policy. However, things have now changed and PM Modi’s 2015 visit to all five Central Asian states and initiatives like the TAPI pipeline have shown the representatives of these countries that India, unlike other global powers, does not consider them as “small”, but equal partners.
India has increased its outreach to Latin-American countries significantly in the past five years. Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay have seen strong engagements at multiple levels.
PM Modi’s attendance at G20 summits in Latin America (Argentina 2018, Brazil 2024) and the visit of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Panama in 2023 are being read as a broader intent of India to expand its network among the untapped region.
Smaller European countries too have been reached out as part of this new way of looking at things. Luxembourg (finance), Malta (Mediterranean hub), and the Baltic states (tech innovation) are now part of India’s European strategy, moving beyond the traditional, limited focus on Germany or France.
Apart from helping India in the field of trade, engaging these nations has helped India build coalitions, whether in the United Nations (where smaller states have votes) or against China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
It has created a geopolitical leverage for India through its soft power projection. The Prime Minister has personally visited 60+ countries since 2014, many of them small, which has amplified India’s image as a relatable and reliable global power, distinct from Western or Chinese models.
Earlier, due to resource constraints, lack of vision and a general sense of bureaucratic neglect, smaller countries were seen as “afterthoughts” and not partners. However, with PM Modi strongly pitching the idea of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” (together with all, development for all) to be extended globally, smaller states are now seen as equal partners, the results of which are now bearing fruit.
EAM Jaishankar, a career diplomat and now a part of the kitchen cabinet of PM Modi, has played a key role in this strategic realignment, which he also mentioned in his book, “The India Way”, articulating a multi-alignment approach that values every relationship, no matter the size. Now, Indian diplomats are holding flags in places like Palau or São Tomé and Príncipe, which they had not even read about during their civil
The benefits of this shift will become even more tangible in the coming years, with the world moving towards multi-polarity, and influence not being limited to being friends with big countries, but having a wide network. These engagements secure resources (e.g., critical minerals), open markets (e.g., CEPA with Chile), and build goodwill (e.g., vaccine diplomacy in 2021), apart from positioning India as a counterweight to countries who have a history of courting small states with loans and infrastructure.
The recent agreements with Chile were not flashy like a US-India deal, but it’s foundational—quietly weaving a global platform tapestry that would underpin India’s rise and underscore PM Modi and EAM Jaishankar’s approach for seeing the potential where others saw insignificance.