Foreign ministers from a dozen countries to take part in Raisina Dialogue in Delhi

India’s flagship, two-day annual multilateral conference, the Raisina Dialog, will begin in New Delhi today.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will host his counterparts from 12 countries—Australia, Bhutan, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Iran, Maldives, Morocco, Russia, South Africa and Uzbekistan. This year’s dialog is entitled “Navigating the Alpha Century”.

Iran has notably chosen to participate in the conclave, amid ongoing diplomatic and military tensions with the US. Iran is a valuable oil partner for the host country; it is unlikely that US-Iranian tensions will strain Tehran’s relationship with New Delhi.

India is walking a tightrope between the two rivals. It is building energy ties with US oil companies, and will not seek to hurt its economic relationship with the US by forging closer energy ties with Iran. At the same time, New Delhi will likely seek to prevent any potential strong-arming from Washington regarding its energy ties in the future. The dialog thus provides India with a chance to present itself as an assertive entity, one that can pursue independent policies with other nations in the medium to long term.

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