What could the upcoming visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Ukraine mean?
19 August 2024 15:30
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For the first time since the full-scale invasion, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ukraine. This has already been announced by the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Reuters reports . Details of the trip will be published later, the Foreign Ministry said. Stanislav Zhelikhovsky, PhD in Political Science, international expert, told "Komersant Ukrainian" in an exclusive commentary that Narendra Modi may discuss his proposals for a peaceful settlement of the war in Ukraine with Ukrainian officials.
“There are no details of the visit yet, but first of all, I think we will talk about what exactly India can offer in the context of a peaceful settlement of the war in Ukraine, how active it will be in this process. It is obvious that India wants to show itself from a more favourable position as opposed to China, which often takes a pro-Russian position and tries to balance between the two countries,” said Stanisław Żelichowski.
He emphasised that it is important for India to demonstrate itself as a democratic country that is not biased in terms of ideological postulates, like China.
“India has a certain kind of competition with the People’s Republic of China in many aspects,” the expert noted.
According to Stanislav Zhelikhovsky, Ukraine’s cooperation with India is also very important in terms of the upcoming peace summit.
“For us, cooperation with India is very important in the context of the fact that this country has a great influence in the Asian region and has ambitions for global status. We need India to attract even more countries from the global south to support the Ukrainian peace formula,” said Stanislav Zhelikhovsky.
According to the expert, it is also possible that Ukraine may offer India cooperation in the defence sector in the future.
“Ukraine may eventually replace Russia in the arms market, and India has long been associated with Russia in the context of arms purchases. Given that russia has not been able to provide them with as many weapons as they need lately, Ukraine could occupy this niche in the future. Moreover, our technologies are in many ways better than their Russian counterparts,” the expert stressed.
In addition, during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Ukraine, the parties may discuss future cooperation in the post-war reconstruction of our country.
“I think that the parties will discuss how India can be involved in the process of post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, what opportunities it has to help Ukraine both in the economy and in financial services. India could send its specialists and labour to us to help rebuild Ukraine,” said Stanislav Zhelikhovsky.
India is also building closer relations with the US and understands that Ukraine also has good ties with the US and the EU.
“Moreover, Ukraine is still planning to join the European Union, which is a promising market for India. I think this will also be discussed. It is important for India to gain a foothold in the Ukrainian market, which will become a European market in the future,” said Stanislav Zhelikhovsky.
According to Indian media, Narendra Modi may visit Ukraine this month. Earlier, The Economic Times reported about this visit. It said that Modi plans to visit Poland and Ukraine on 21-23 August. He will arrive in Kyiv after a visit to Warsaw.
This will be Modi’s first visit to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. In July, Narendra Modi visited the Kremlin, where he shook hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Narendra Modi’s visit took place on the day that Russia attacked the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv. During his meeting with Putin, Modi said that there is no solution to the conflict on the battlefield and that Kyiv and Moscow should sit down at the negotiating table.
Author: Alyona Kaplina
