Jaishankar outlines India's foreign policy priorities regarding Bangladesh, China, and Pakistan

Jaishankar said India’s ties with Bangladesh must be based on mutual interest, while stressing that stability with China and the fight against terrorism remain key to New Delhi’s foreign policy

NEW DELHI: For any relationship to work, it has to meet the test of mutual interest, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said Saturday on the current state of ties between India and Bangladesh, particularly in the context of uncertainty over PM Tarique Rahman's visit. "It has to work for them, it has to work for us. I'm not expecting neighbours to only do what is in my interest...when you get that common landing ground, relationships work smoothly," Jaishankar said. The external affairs ministry had earlier announced that India has invited Rahman for a bilateral visit. At ET World Leaders Forum, Jaishankar reaffirmed India's position on Pakistan that dialogue and terrorism cannot coexist, and said the govt cannot be impervious to public opinion in the country. Ahead of Modi’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of SCO and Brics summits next month, Jaishankar said both Delhi and Beijing have an interest in maintaining stability in the relationship and India needs to do business with the entire world, including China. While an official announcement is awaited, Xi will be travelling to India for Brics summit on Sept 12-13 for his first visit to the country since 2019.

“But for us, the interaction... the purpose of it is finally to modernise our economy and to develop our capabilities, but even as we do so, obviously there will be trade, there will be other economic interactions with them,” said Jaishankar. He also said India remains in touch with China about business visa delays faced by Indian nationals. Recalling the 2020-24 difficult phase in the relationship, he iterated India’s position that the state of the border will determine the relationship. “Having said that, I think naturally, if assuming things are stable and the needle is more cooperative, obviously, I mean we are both very big economies in many ways, we are markets to each other.”