The annual Raisina Dialogue conference has opened in New Delhi. Statements made at the opening session by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the special guest of the conference, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, indicate New Delhi's aspiration to new regions, primarily in the Mediterranean, as well as its alignment with the Asia-Pacific region.
In his speech, the Greek prime minister recognized India's "leading role in the world" and stated that "strengthening strategic ties with India should become the cornerstone of the EU's foreign policy." This idea was confirmed by Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, noting "India's deep integration into world affairs, especially in the last decade."
Apparently, India is continuing to pave its corridor to Europe, and discussions on this issue are beginning to reach specific projects. Even during the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Athens in August last year, the business circles of the two countries were negotiating the possibility of using Greek ports for Indian exports. Now it is about two proposed directions for the development of Indian-Greek relations.
First, we are talking about promoting the India–Middle East–Europe corridor. Greece positions itself for India as a "natural corridor to Europe and further," and the Greek port of Piraeus as a "gateway for India." At the same time, Athens shows its readiness to allocate the necessary capacities, despite the existing competition.
The second direction is the growth of naval cooperation connecting the Aegean and South China Seas. These prospects will be discussed on Friday at the traditional "admiral's session" by the navy chiefs of India, the United States, Australia, France and the United Kingdom.
According to experts monitoring the event in New Delhi, unlike the recently concluded Munich Security Conference, Raisina's agenda, apart from geopolitics, focuses on the issues of development, climate change, the needs and formats of cooperation of the global South. Nevertheless, the opening promo video of the event with footage of barbed wire and artillery strikes immediately hinted that there would still be a connection between Munich and New Delhi. And war and peace issues will inevitably become an important element of the discussion. Actually, the Greek prime Minister did not forget in his speech that "the conflict in Europe is not local in nature."
Therefore, the wide geography of the conference participants can be a marker that everyone wants to be friends with India, especially Western countries, who understand that the number of vacancies may be limited. The desire of the United States and the EU to stand in line for friendship is based on the understanding that it is India, given its combined potential, that will be a real counterweight to both Russia and China.
This state of affairs largely shapes the self-awareness of modern Indian elites, who have practically nothing left from the Soviet era. These are already elites, systematically installed in global processes, for whom the main criterion for building relations is a pragmatic national interest and which they are going to follow in the future.