Courtesy: DD News
By signing the EU-India Free Trade Agreement on January 27, the ties that bind India and the European collective have been re-energised. They are now set to reach new heights, while overcoming past hesitations and divergences.
Courtesy: GK newspaper
On 12 February, Bangladesh will go to the polls to choose a new leader. India should work to maintain a robust and cordial working relationship with the new regime as it did during Sheikh Hasina’s tenure. The new government in Bangladesh should prioritise eliminating anti-India sentiments before they become entrenched, to prevent security challenges for itself and the region.
Courtesy: BBC
U.S. action in Venezuela has resurrected the 200-year-old Monroe Doctrine which sought to prevent foreign interference in the Western Hemisphere. Originally intended to keep European colonial powers away, it has been reinterpreted over the years beyond that. Donald Trump has reasserted and updated it to the “Donroe Doctrine,” to revitalise U.S. regional hegemony – and through it, some reduction of Chinese and Russian influence.
Courtesy: Somaliland Presidential Office
Israel’s recognition of Somaliland as an independent state in December 2025 is not merely a diplomatic gesture toward a long-marginalised polity; it is a strategic act with implications for Somalia’s territorial integrity, regional security dynamics, great-power competition, and the evolving politics of recognition in a fractured international order.
Courtesy: High Commission of India, Colombo
Cyclone Ditawah has put a serious dampener on Sri Lanka’s rosy post-budget economic outlook. Sri Lanka can help itself by using available national resources, but India can help too, by partnering with multilateral development banks to manage the post-Cyclone Ditwah reconstruction implementation strategy. It can also share its experience of implementing gradual economic reforms and policy planning under Niti Ayog to support Sri Lanka’s efforts.
In December, India and Oman signed a Free Trade Agreement – a formalisation of exchanges which are, in fact, two hundred years old. These were led by the Indian merchant diasporas, especially the Bhatia, Bohra, Khoja, Khimji and Jain communities, which used Omani-controlled maritime networks to link Bombay with East Africa. These networks still endure, and among the oldest, strongest, and culturally richest are the Bombay-Oman-East Africa connections.
Courtesy: @narendramodi/X
Ethiopia's importance as an African country that has played a vital role in advancing the vision of African unity and integration, and as a nation that killed its own demons of dictatorship to emerge as a successful democracy, is remarkable. In this upgraded frame, Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Addis Ababa is significant, with India as a partner offering economic and technological engagement.
Courtesy: Adobe Images
Renewable energy adoption will be much slower than what was being projected earlier, and China’s curbs on rare-earth magnets will slow down the adoption of electric vehicles. Oil will continue to fuel India’s economy in 2026 and beyond.
Courtesy: All India Radio News
India and Russia have a time-tested relationship, which was evident during President Putin's state visit to New Delhi last week. Its success lay in the warmth the leaders of the two countries share and in its timing: geopolitically, just after discussions of the U.S. and China as the G2, and commercially and strategically, at a time when India’s needs match Russia's capabilities.
Courtesy: Reuters
China’s attempt to discipline Japan over Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi’s statement on a Chinese attack on Taiwan threatening Japan’s security, may instead strengthen the very alliances Beijing hoped to fracture. By using symbolic economic instruments, invoking the UNSC, and amplifying nationalist messaging while avoiding mass public mobilisation, China signals displeasure without risking internal instability. Yet these same measures push Japan ever deeper into U.S.-aligned networks.
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