FOREIGN POLICY RESEARCH CENTRE, NEW DELHI

India’s increasing engagement with the international community has resulted in a large number of visits to India by foreign dignitaries. There were 62  incoming visits during 2008 at the level of Head of State,Vice President,Head of Government andForeign Minister ; and 27 outgoing visits at these levels during the year. Foreign Resident Diplomatic Missions in Delhi continue to  increase and Foreign Representatives in Delhi are also growing in size . And as member of hundreds of international organizations India had to attend a number of international conferences every year. It may be pointed out the country’s heightened external engagement in the form of 165% increase in high-level visits and 166% increase in India’s trade in the past five years in addition  to 300% jump in the FDI inflow and 76% jump in foreign tourists visiting the country in the last five years coupled with  the country’s deepening linkages with its bilateral and multilateral partners and its claim for permanent membership of the UN Security Council along with the need to tackle “new issues” like international terrorism, human rights, migration, environment and quest for sustainable energy source calls for better representation of the country in the global fora of India’s increasing global engagement.
All this underlines that with the international  community viewing India as an emerging global player, its increasing diplomatic activities-political, economic and strategic- need to be studied to develop a body of informed opinion on Indian foreign affairs in the  context of the developments in international politics.

Foreign Policy Research Centre, New Delhi,  is purely an independent research institute devoted to conduct in-depth study and research on every aspect of Indian Foreign Policy in international perspective as well as in the context of contemporary world developments.