News articles and essays on the Indian diplomacy at work around the world.
The helicopters and associated equipment were transported from Sarang’s home base at Sulur in Tamil Nadu to Egypt aboard Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster III heavy-lift transport aircraft. The Dhruvs have since been offloaded in Egypt as the team begins preparations and practice flights ahead of the international display.
The meeting brought together India’s Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office, with discussions focused on technology adoption, innovation, intellectual property rights, technology commercialisation, entrepreneurship and cluster-based development for small and medium enterprises.
These projects are not all of the same kind. Some directly connect Indian territory with neighbouring countries. Others form parts of larger multimodal corridors linking India with ports and markets. Still others are roads built or financed by India entirely within partner countries. Together, however, they illustrate the emergence of infrastructure development as an important component of India’s engagement with the Global South.
During the visit, De Wever will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the two leaders expected to review the full spectrum of India-Belgium relations. Their discussions will also cover regional and global developments of mutual interest, reflecting the growing engagement between India and Belgium as well as the wider India-European Union partnership.
Unlike arrangements where UPI is accepted only at selected merchants or through individual acquiring networks, the Uzbekistan partnership connects UPI with the country’s national interoperable QR infrastructure, potentially giving Indian users access to a very broad merchant network across retail establishments, hotels, restaurants and service providers.
The bilateral meeting took place on the sidelines of the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit, hosted by the Kyrgyz Republic. The summit also coincided with Kyrgyzstan’s Independence Day, adding a symbolic dimension to Modi’s visit to Bishkek.
The Bishkek meeting was the first face-to-face meeting between Modi and Putin in 2026. Their previous meeting had taken place in New Delhi during the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit in December 2025, when the two countries reaffirmed their Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and laid out an expanded agenda covering trade, defence, energy, technology and connectivity.
The talks came at a particularly sensitive moment for the region, with continuing conflict and geopolitical tensions affecting energy markets, commercial shipping and international supply chains. Modi expressed concern over the escalation of tensions and reiterated India’s longstanding position that disputes should be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy rather than military confrontation.
Bilateral merchandise trade between India and Brazil reached $15.07 billion in 2025-26. Reaching the new 2030 target would therefore require the two countries to roughly double their current trade relationship over the next several years.
The initiative could eventually allow businesses, travellers and other users in BRICS economies to move money between participating countries more rapidly and at lower cost by linking national digital-payment infrastructure and sovereign digital currencies. The proposal remains under discussion, however, and no common BRICS CBDC network or settlement architecture has yet been approved.
