Development Partnership has been one of the principal pillars of Indian foreign policy which is based on the principle of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” - the world is one family. Despite its own resource restraints, India has been one of the leading developing countries willing to share its developmental experience and technical expertise with other developing countries over the last seven decades in line with its firm and long-standing commitment to South-South cooperation and solidarity. India’s development partnership model is based on trust, respect, sovereignty, transparency, collaboration and requirements of the partner countries. In recent years, India’s development partnership has grown significantly in scale and scope and is a mutually beneficial partnership that is human-centric in its approach. The contours of India’s development partnership programme are a reflection of a rising, aspirational India which considers its growth and development as not being separable from that of the countries of the Global South. This edited volume is the compilation of views and papers presented by former diplomats, practitioners, academicians and policy makers at a two-day online National Seminar on ‘India’s Development Partnership: Expanding Vistas’ held on 15-16 June 2022. The Seminar was organized to mark the completion of ten years in 2022 of the Development Partnership Administration, which is responsible for implementing policy, project and capacity building initiatives within the Ministry of External Affairs of India, its achievements in expanding India’s Development Partnership and to discuss the way forward. Contents Foreword Introduction Remarks Amb. Vijay Thakur Singh Remarks Shri Dammu Ravi Remarks Shri Prabhat Kumar Remarks Prof. Sachin Chaturvedi NEIGHBOURHOOD FIRST: ENHANCED FOCUS Remarks Amb. Amar Sinha India-Nepal Relations: A Partnership for Mutual Growth and Prosperity Dr. Nihar R. Nayak Remarks on India’s Development Partnership and Sri Lanka Prof. Biswajit Nag India’s Development Partnerships: A Case of India-Bhutan Energy Transition Prof. Medha Bisht Remarks Amb. Ranjit Rae India-Bangladesh Development Partnership in the 21st Century: Prospect for South-South Cooperation Srimanti Sarkar Shooting Star? Myanmar as a Development Partner in India’s Neighbourhood Angshuman Choudhury India-Maldives Development Partnership: Promises and Possibilities Dr. N. Manoharan India’s Soft Power Diplomacy in Afghanistan: Need for a Policy Rethink? Dr. Shanthie Mariet D’Souza ACT EAST AND THE INDO-PACIFIC: NEW OPPORTUNITIES Remarks Amb. Gautam Mukhopadhyay India, the Indo-Pacific and Development Partnerships Dr. Sanjay Pulipaka and Mohit Musaddi IPEF: A Strategic cum Development Mechanism for the Indo-Pacific? Dr. Vivek Mishra and Mrityunjaya Dubey India’s Development Partnership with Pacific Island Countries (PICs) Dr. Pragya Pandey AFRICA: A TRUSTED PARTNERSHIP India’s Development Cooperation with Africa: Fresh Adaptation Required Amb. Gurjit Singh Remarks Mr. Pramit Pal Choudhury India’s Scholarships to Southwest Indian Ocean: Major Trends and Analysis Dr. Sankalp Gurjar LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES: RENEWED VIGOUR India and Latin America: Partners in Development Dr. Stuti Banerjee India’s Development Partnership Initiatives in the Caribbean Prof. Priti Singh CONNECT CENTRAL ASIA: BUILDING ON TRADITIONAL GOODWILL India-Central Asia: Exploring Potential for More Active Engagement Dr. Athar Zafar Connect Central Asia: Building on Traditional Goodwill Dr. Angira Sen Sarma LOOK WEST: BUILDING BRIDGES India and the Middle East: Development, Diaspora and Dividends Amb. Anil Trigunayat India and West Asia: The Bridge that Remains to be Built Kingshuk Chatterjee India’s Development Partnership with Iran and Iraq: Challenges and Opportunities Dr. Deepika Saraswat About the Contributors National Seminar Index About the Author: Ms. Nutan Kapoor Mahawar, a career diplomat, joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1996. During her over 26 years of service, she has worked on various assignments both in New Delhi and abroad. At Headquarters, she has served in the Disarmament & International Security Affairs, Europe West and Parliament & Coordination Divisions. She has held positions in Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva and Embassy of India, Moscow. Since January 2019, Ms. Mahawar is Joint Secretary in the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi. Ms. Mahawar is a post-graduate in Economics. Dr Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee is a Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi. He received his M. Phil and Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University working extensively on Pakistan’s foreign policy decision-making under civilian and military leaderships. He has taught as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Siliguri College for ten years, after which he has been involved in research with ICWA. His interest also includes India and Vietnam, ASEAN, Israel, terrorism, Foreign Policy Decision Making, India and Myanmar, South Asian politics, political and strategic development in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has published a book on Pakistan Foreign Policy Decision Making and also jointly edited a book titled ‘Gandhi and the World’ in 2022 along with many research papers and contributed chapters in edited books. He has also been part of many international conferences and lecturers abroad.