"Pragmatism": Foreign Ministry Report 2024 Highlights Key Diplomatic Achievements

NDTV

9 hours ago

New Delhi:
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has released its annual report for 2024, highlighting India's key diplomatic engagements and achievements. According to the report, India's foreign policy demonstrated "vibrancy and pragmatism" in advancing national interests amid a rapidly evolving global landscape.
In the year 2024, India engaged actively with the world in advancing its national interests amid a rapidly evolving global landscape. Indian foreign policy demonstrated vibrancy and pragmatism, yielding significant achievements that also enhanced India's global stature and goodwill, the Ministry of External Affairs wrote in its annual report 2024 on Friday.
Bilateral engagements with like-minded partners were complemented by India's proactive initiatives and leadership in plurilateral and multilateral platforms. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) played a pivotal role in steering India's foreign policy and global diplomacy towards pragmatic goals, it added.
India remained steadfast in expanding its strategic autonomy, championing meaningful reforms of multilateral institutions, addressing the priorities of the Global South, and safeguarding its security within the framework of the rules-based international order. These efforts underscored India's commitment to shaping a more equitable and inclusive global governance framework.
The year witnessed continuing economic fluctuations, climate change impacts, geopolitical tensions, and social disruptions, with persistent challenges on global health and environmental fronts.
India remained actively engaged on the global stage, addressing major global challenges through high-level discussions and collaborations.
This included strengthening partnerships bilaterally and active participation in notable regional and global groupings such as the UN, G20, G7, Quad, SCO, and BRICS. By virtue of being the preceding G20 President, India continued to work with Brazil under the Troika grouping (India, Brazil, and South Africa).
Building on the work done during India's G20 Presidency, Brazil identified three priorities for 2024, which broadly involved social inclusion, energy transition, and the reform of multilateral governance institutions.
The report notes that India remained actively engaged on the global stage, addressing major global challenges through high-level discussions and collaborations.
The MEA report highlighted PM Modi's participation in the 19th G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 18-19 November. Prime Minister's interventions were widely appreciated across the spectrum of developed and developing countries for being human-centric, constructive, and development-oriented.
This was also the first G20 Summit in which the African Union participated as a permanent member, following its inclusion at the New Delhi G20 Summit in September 2023. In August, India hosted the 3rd edition of the Voice of Global South Summit in virtual format under the overarching theme 'An Empowered Global South for a Sustainable Future,' MEA stated.
India also hosted the 3rd edition of the Voice of Global South Summit, which saw the participation of 173 dignitaries from 123 Global South countries. During the summit, PM Modi proposed a "global development compact" to promote sustainable development in the Global South--the compact focuses on trade, capacity building, technology sharing, and financial support.
The report highlights India's commitment to combating terrorism, with the country collaborating actively with the global community to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. India also reinforced its credentials as a reliable "first responder" in crises, undertaking three major Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations during the year.
Earlier in June, the Prime Minister participated in the Outreach Session of the G7 Summit in Italy, where he engaged with global leaders on key global challenges.
At the summit, PM Modi emphasised that technology must be guided by a human-centric approach, highlighting India's success in leveraging digital advancements for public service delivery.
He underscored India's commitment to "AI for All," advocating for AI's role in fostering global progress and well-being. He also stressed the importance of prioritising the concerns of the Global South, particularly Africa, recalling India's role in securing the African Union's permanent membership in the G20, as per the report.
PM Modi also held discussions with the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni on further strengthening the India-Italy Strategic Partnership. Throughout the year, India collaborated actively with the global community to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and worked with partner countries towards capacity-building, best practices exchange, and information sharing in the counter-terrorism domain.
During the year, India participated in various Counterterrorism Working Groups, engaging with its partners on combating the menace of terrorism, including within the Quad grouping and with France, Kazakhstan, and Australia. The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) Mutual Evaluation of India culminated with the FATF Plenary at Singapore in June, wherein India's report was finalised, and the FATF Plenary concluded that India had reached a high level of technical compliance with the FATF requirements.
This indicated that India's anti-money laundering, counter terror financing, and Counter Proliferation Financing (CPF) regime was achieving effective results. India reinforced its credentials as a reliable 'first responder' in crises, both in its neighbourhood and beyond, by undertaking three major Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations during the year.
These operations included Operation Indravati in Haiti, a special Humanitarian Airlift Operation in Kuwait, and Operation Sadbhav in Myanmar. Apart from these operations, India provided HADR assistance to more than 20 countries during the year.
The report further emphasised that Operation Indravati, which was launched in March to evacuate Indian nationals from Haiti amidst civil unrest. In June, a special Humanitarian Airlift Operation was conducted in Kuwait to repatriate the bodies of 45 Indian nationals.
In September, Operation Sadbhav was launched to extend emergency humanitarian assistance in the wake of the floods caused by Typhoon Yagi in Myanmar.
Apart from these operations, India provided HADR assistance to more than 20 countries during the year.
In 2024, India also continued to provide its humanitarian assistance to conflict zones in West Asia. India supplied anti-cancer medicines to Syria and coordinated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to supply 30 tons of humanitarian aid and essential life-saving drugs for the people of Palestine.
In July, India rescued nine crew, including eight Indians, in a joint search and rescue operation with the Omani authorities from MT Prestige Falcon, a Comoros-flagged vessel that capsized off the coast of Oman.
During the year, India also marked several significant diplomatic milestones, celebrating decades of ties with partner countries. These milestones reflected India's continued commitment to nurturing historic and evolving partnerships.
Overall, the MEA report highlights India's growing global stature and goodwill, with the country's diplomatic efforts yielding significant achievements in advancing national interests and promoting global cooperation.