Given the dearth of natural resources, all major powers are intensifying their collaboration with African countries and investing in infrastructure and connectivity projects.
Of late, Africa has increasingly emerged as a theatre of growing geopolitical contestation, even as various external shocks—the war in Ukraine, global inflation, and the Israel-Hamas …

The Digital Silk Road (DSR), part of the Belt and Road Initiative, symbolises China’s approach to expanding information exchanges and digital cooperation with emerging markets and developing economies. Under the DSR, several private corporations and state-owned enterprises supported by Chinese state banks are offering inexpensive technological contracts …

The course of the global energy transition may be determined by the effectiveness of Africa’s lithium exploration negotiations with China.
Dubbed ‘white gold’, Lithium holds high significance in modern technology and industry. Rechargeable Lithium-based batteries are essential to power electric cars and store solar and wind energy. Known for its high energy density and long lifespan, Lithium-ion …

One achievement reached on the sidelines of India’s G-20 Summit was the new initiative to develop a rail and shipping corridor connecting India to Europe via the Middle East. According to a White House fact sheet, leaders from the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreeing to establish …

The changing world order and the growing Chinese aggression in the SCS have compelled the ASEAN countries to increase their military expenditures.
With global dynamics changing due to big power rivalry, the Indo-Pacific region is challenging the traditional concept of the Asia-Pacific with ASEAN at its core. Several ASEAN-centric bodies provided the regional security architecture …

As an emerging power in the current multipolar global order, India can use the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to protect, promote, and project its geostrategic and geoeconomic interests. The SCO is also a platform for India to reaffirm its commitment to revive and deepen its centuries-old civilisational, spiritual, and cultural ties with other member …

India’s robust economy has tremendous potential. But for sustained economic growth, it needs direct access to the Eurasian markets, backed by reliable, resilient, and diversified supply chains. Indeed, enhanced connectivity with Central Asia and the wider Eurasia is essential to promote regional stability and unlock economic opportunities for all countries in the region. This paper analyses the status …

The G20 brings the world’s major economies accounting for more than 80 percent of world GDP and 75 percent of global trade to an international forum. While the world is still dealing with the nightmares of the pandemic, it is confronted with geopolitical havoc. And it is at this juncture that India has assumed the G20 presidency. For the first time in the history of G20, the troika is with the developing world—Indonesia, India, and Brazil …

India’s oil imports from Russia have gone up from 0.2 percent of total crude imports to 10 percent since April 2022, with imports rising from 25,000 barrels a day at the beginning of 2022 to 600,000 barrels a day in May–June. The imports rose as Moscow offered crude at discounted rates, seeking to shift its customer base after European companies shunned Russian crude in opposition to its invasion of Ukraine …

In the Russian President’s first visit outside the Central Asian Region since Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin met Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on 19 July. During this trip, the Russian President also met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Türkiye in Tehran, making it his first in-person meeting with a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) leader since the war began in Ukraine.
Although Russia and Iran have …

In the face of sanctions imposed by the West, Russia and Belarus look towards developing and maintaining economic and geopolitical partnerships with countries in Asia.
The West’s collective reflection of the events in Ukraine draws a conditional line under the 30-year era of Russia and Belarus’ search for their place in the western-centric world.
History teaches us that “all things must pass”, therefore, it is only a matter of time before …

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, recently said that the Indo-Pacific region will “shape this century”. It is no secret that the Indo-Pacific, in the last five years, has become the fastest-growing region, accounting for two-thirds of global economic growth, and is also an arena of security competition due to China’s growing belligerence. This new opportunity and threat are sounding alarm bells in ASEAN, a cord that connects the Pacific coastline to the …

There is little debate about Asia’s increasing economic and political significance. The COVID-19 pandemic that originated in the Asian land mass has retarded, but not reversed, the progress made in taking millions out of poverty and in moving the centre of gravity of the world economy back to Asia, where it was until the 16th century.
Because of the increase in the purchasing …

The Indo-Pacific region is an important one for three reasons. First, three of the world’s largest economies, i.e., the US, China, and Japan are present, and the region accounts for 60 percent of global GDP. Second, 60 percent of global maritime trade occurs through the waters in the region. Finally, the fastest growing emerging economies—Cambodia, India, and Philippines—are also from the region. Economic growth …

Southeast Asia’s importance internationally and to the United States (US) is under-appreciated. With 650 million people, a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of almost US $3 trillion, high economic growth rates, a middle class expected to double in the next decade, almost 400 million people under the age of 35, and navigating contested and uncertain …