Time to Strengthen the India-Belarus Relationship

Introduction: The Global Dimension

India has generally enjoyed friendly relations with almost all the post-Soviet countries including Belarus. The India-Belarus ties could be termed as ‘friendly, cordial yet distant’ as the two sides have struggled to deepen their relationship, although the two countries have described their relationship with phrases like ‘comprehensive partnership’ and ‘high mutual interest’.

The comprehensive partnership gets reflected in their common outlook and approach towards international issues. Both sides strive to achieve a system of international relations based on justice and fairness, a multipolar world order that supports equality of states (as enshrined in the UN Charter). In 2017, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko during his meeting with Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi had said that Belarus supported India as a ‘powerful fulcrum’ in a multipolar world.

Belarus supports India’s permanent membership in a reformed United Nations Security Council in order to reflect contemporary realities and strengthen the UN’s response to emerging threats and challenges. Minsk has also supported India’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) arguing that it will strengthen global non-proliferation objectives. The two countries also share similar orientation towards the problem of terrorism and they are committed to strengthen cooperation against threats from globally designated terrorists irrespective of their origin.

India was one of the founders of the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM), a platform that Belarus joined in 1998. According to the 2007 joint statement between the two sides issued after the visit of President Aleksandr Lukashenko, India and Belarus had agreed to strengthen the principle of solidarity within the NAM and the commonality of their positions on different issues within the UN.

The emphasis on maintaining their autonomy in their foreign policy is a common theme between India and Belarus, although their stances could differ in practical terms. Belarusian experts have highlighted that in times of great power confrontation, other states could move towards ‘non-aligned’ foreign policy. NAM membership shows Belarusian strategic desire to be a neutral state and diversify relations beyond the ‘West-Russia’ binary. In this regard, Belarus follows a ‘multi-vector’ foreign policy while India follows a ‘multi-alignment’ foreign policy. A comparative study of their similar efforts in foreign policy could yield interesting results.

Belarus is also engaging with India’s approach to the Global South as Minsk participated in all the three ‘Voice of Global South’ summits hosted by India so far. Speaking at the third summit in August 2024, President Lukashenko had highlighted the ill effects of unilateral sanctions, as they create problems of food insecurity among the Global South countries.

Regional Aspects

India-Belarus relationship is gradually developing a regional dimension as well. In July 2024, Belarus joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as the 10th member state. India was the first country to ratify the memorandum on Belarus’ accession to the SCO under its SCO Presidency in 2023. New Delhi also supported Minsk to become a partner country in BRICS.

India is likely to support Belarus as a future BRICS member whenever the expansion takes place in the future. Belarus ranked 30th out of 166 countries in 2024 in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. India should facilitate the entry of Belarus in the International Solar Alliance, an initiative that takes forward the idea of ‘climate justice’ and clean energy.

Bilateral Ties

There has been a trend (although not so regular) of important visits between India and Belarus. India’s Nobel Laureate intellectual and poet, Rabindranath Tagore had visited Minsk in 1931. His famous work, Gitanjali, for which he received the Nobel prize in 1913 has been translated to Belarusian language by Republic of Belarus State Prize winner Alexander Ryazanov.

The then Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi visited Belarus in 1985 as part of his visit to the Soviet Union. Gandhi and his family were enthusiastically welcomed by the leadership and people of Belarus. He also paid a tribute to the Belarusian fighters who fought during the Great Patriotic War (Second World War) and recognised the contribution of Belarus towards Allied Victory in this war. Similarly, India had also made a serious contribution towards the Allied Victory; however, both Indian and Belarusian contribution is often forgotten and neglected in history books.

Later, India became one of the first countries to recognise Belarus as an independent country in 1991 and New Delhi opened its embassy in Minsk in 1992. Belarus opened its embassy in New Delhi in 1998. In August 2022, the new Belarusian Consulate General in Mumbai was inaugurated while there are Honorary Consulates in Kolkata (2002) and Mumbai (2018). President Lukashenko visited India in 1997, 2007 and 2017. From India, the highest level visit came in June 2015 when the then President Pranab Mukherjee visited Minsk.

India-Belarus trade stood at $627.8 million in 2020 but was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing to $85.34 million in 2024. However, the current geo-economic environment suggests that India and Belarus should take a deeper look at their economic ties. The US President Donald Trump has, surprisingly, targeted India with the highest percentage of tariffs in Asia while Belarus has been under Western sanctions. Hence, it may be the right time for further expanding trade ties.

Belarus is a member of the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) which connects Indian ports on its western coast to Russia and Europe. Studies suggest that if the INSTC connectivity materialises, the India-Belarus trade has the potential to reach $309 million (vehicles), $322 million (medicaments) and $110 million (fabrics). The two countries are also part of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the Eurasian Economic Union. More trade engagement between the two sides will also bring more synergy to the Eurasian Economic Union FTA negotiations.

Indian IT companies could explore the possibility of establishing business in the High Technology Park (HTP) in Belarus which is a leading IT cluster in Central and Eastern Europe. The other promising areas of trade between the two sides include dump trucks, petrochemical products, electric vehicles, fabrics, pharmaceuticals, medical tourism, education and tourism. Belarus could emerge as the entry point for the Indian pharma companies to the Eurasian Economic Union market.

India and Belarus need to further exchange views on defence and security matters. One such recent opportunity was in June 2025, when Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held discussions with his Belarusian counterpart, Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin on the sidelines of the SCO Defence Ministers meeting in China.

Terrorism, balance of power in Eurasia and prospects of bilateral defence cooperation are important areas of discussion between India and Belarus. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus had issued a balanced statement during the recent India-Pakistan tensions, where it highlighted the ‘need to search for ways of constructive cooperation in combating terrorism and extremism, which contribute to strengthening security in South Asia.’

Nemiga-Yamuna Expert Dialogue: Track II Diplomacy

India has been effectively using Track II dialogue mechanisms to cultivate and strengthen relations with many countries. There is a need to use this mechanism with Belarus as it will complement and strengthen the official dialogue mechanisms. Education, tourism and cultural connections should be the priority areas of such a mechanism between the two sides.

India has a large youth population under the age of 25, estimated to be around 600 million. India is one of the top sources of international students as 1.8 million are expected to be studying abroad in 2025 spending around $70 billion per year on their education. Belarus should step up efforts to tap into this expanding student market from India. Sri Lanka sends more students to Belarus than India, which shows the untapped potential of this market in India.

Another area is to increase university level cooperation between the two sides. Private universities in India are looking for global partners. Unlike their government counterparts, the private universities in India have less bureaucratic hurdles and execution of agreements is easier. Student and faculty exchanges should be encouraged from both sides while Belarus could identify some of the Indian universities where ‘Belarus Chair of Excellence’ could be established in areas mutually agreed upon. A special emphasis should be given to hybrid learning mode in the university level cooperation between the two sides.

Since there is direct flight connectivity between Delhi and Minsk, tourism has a serious chance of taking off. India’s outbound tourism market was worth around US $ 19 billion in 2024 which will grow by almost three times to US $ 55 billion in the next decade by 2034. A good tourism campaign by Belarus in India with a famous Indian celebrity as the brand ambassador is likely to yield good results and increase the number of tourists from India to Belarus.

President Lukashenko has announced that the major faiths present in Belarus should start creating their own centres of attraction. He has also announced the creation of the ‘Museum of the History of World Religions’ in Minsk so that Belarusian youths know what religion is. Hinduism has a presence in Belarus and since the collapse of the Soviet Union; India has acquired a philosophic and mystic image in Belarus triggered by the social impact of upheaval due to Soviet disintegration. Hinduism should find a place in the proposed ‘Museum of the History of World Religions’ in Minsk which will also increase youth level interaction between the two countries through the medium of religion.

In this regard, the plan to hold the Nemiga-Yamuna Track II expert dialogue between India and Belarus in October 2025 is a welcome sign from both sides and some of the suggestions expressed above will be helpful in taking forward India-Belarus ties. Interactions between think tanks from both sides will be very important as it will stimulate new ideas and areas of research and identify exact areas of cooperation. In recent years, India’s foreign policy has been focusing on Central and Eastern Europe and there are indications that Belarus is likely to be an important partner for India in coming years.