India's growing economy, strategic location, a mix of friendly and diplomatic foreign policy and large and vibrant diaspora has won it more allies than enemies.[56] India has friendly relations with several countries in the developing world. Though India is not a part of any major military alliance, it has a close strategic and military relationship with most of its fellow major powers.
Countries considered India's closest include the United Arab Emirates,[57]Russian,Federation,[58] Israel,[59] Afghanistan,[60] France,[61] Bhutan,[62] Bangladesh,[63] and the United States. Russia is the largest supplier of military equipment to India, followed by Israel and France.[64] According to some analysts, Israel is set to overtake Russia as India's largest military and strategic partner.[65] The two countries also collaborate extensively in the sphere of counter-terrorism and space technology.[66] India also enjoys strong military relations with several other countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States,[67] Japan,[68] Singapore, Brazil, South Africa and Italy.[69] In addition, India operates an airbase in Tajikistan,[70] signed a landmark defence accord with Qatar in 2008,[71] and has leased out Assumption Island from Seychelles to build a naval base in 2015.[72]
India has also forged relationships with developing countries, especially South Africa, Brazil,[73] and Mexico.[74] These countries often represent the interests of developing countries through economic forums such as the G8+5, IBSA and WTO. India was seen as one of the standard bearers of the developing world and claimed to speak for a collection of more than 30 other developing nations at the Doha Development Round.[75][76] Indian Look East policy has helped it develop greater economic and strategic partnerships with Southeast Asian countries, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. India also enjoys friendly relations with the Persian Gulf countries and most members of the African Union.
The Foundation for National Security Research in New Delhi published India's Strategic Partners: A Comparative Assessment and ranked India's top strategic partners with a score out of 90 points: Russia comes out on top with 62, followed by the United States (58), France (51), UK (41), Germany (37), and Japan (34).[77]
Future agreements
Currently, India is taking steps towards establishing strategic partnerships with Canada[108] and Argentina.[109] Although India has not signed any formal strategic partnership agreements with Bhutan and Qatar, its foreign ministry often describes relations with these countries as 'strategic'.[110][111]
Source By :- Wikipidea
