Experts have acknowledged PM Narendra Modi's huge contribution to India's foreign policy
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who completed nine years in power on May 30, has made India a key stakeholder in global affairs, say political leaders, economists and other experts.
They say PM Modi is a strong leader who is confident in the presence of some of the most powerful leaders in the world, and who represents a growing economy, a nation with the highest population, a nation sought by the West for friendship, and an important geopolitical player that counters an expansionist China.
"India has come to the centre stage because of our ability, particularly the Prime Minister's ability, to work in partnership with different leaders and with different countries," G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant told NDTV.
In August 2014, during his first visit outside India's neighbourhood, PM Modi struck a rapport with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe. PM Modi was deeply saddened when his friend was assassinated in July last year. He went to Japan to attend the state funeral of his friend.
"PM Modi started with a master stroke. He was the first Prime Minister of India to think of inviting the immediate neighbours of South Asia and Mauritius or near-neighbours to his inauguration," India's former ambassador Kishen S Rana told NDTV.
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said PM Modi had been instrumental in driving India's foreign policy agenda.
"...It's the relationship with the US which has seen the biggest transformation. After decades of eyeing each other with concern, India and America are now the closest strategic partners, having closed out key foundational agreements that took years for both sides to agree on," Mr Jaishankar said.
"America no longer sees India through the prism of New Delhi's historic closeness with Moscow and India no longer sees the US through the prism of their relationship with Islamabad... With the US having decisively shifted its gaze to the Pacific, India is a natural partner, the world's largest democracy and the world's oldest democracy in a partnership. Narendra Modi has driven this alliance," Mr Jaishankar said.
But building this relationship has not come at the cost of the historic relationship India has with Russia, a reality most evident in the context of the war in Ukraine.
While maintaining ties with Ukraine, India has been clear that its foreign policy will always remain independent, which is why PM Modi made it clear to Russia's Vladimir Putin that this is not the time for war, yet cleared the import of Russian oil despite criticism from the West.
As India holds the G20 presidency this year, PM Modi will try to bring the West, Russia and China together to reach a consensus on ending the war in Ukraine.
Amid all this, stability on India's border and tackling the country's biggest geo-strategic threat, China, will be a huge challenge that will need deft diplomacy and a human touch.